An emotional Elena Baltacha yesterday picked up her first title for two years as she beat Slovenia's Tadeja Majeric to win the Aegon Challenge in Nottingham.
The Scot, who will climb back inside the top 200, beat world No.135 Majeric 7-5, 7-6, having only returned in April after eight months out.
"It means absolutely everything to me," she said. "I was pretty much bawling my eyes out. To think I actually almost retired after the Olympics nearly a year ago. To then have ankle surgery, then go through rehab, I can't believe how far I've come in such a short space of time. Having already scored two top-100 wins is incredible and now I've got this title.
Baltacha trailed 5-1 in the opening set and saved two set points at 5-3 before storming back to win it 7-5.Then, after being broken in the first game of the second, she led 5-3 but needed to save another set-point in the tie-break before winning it 9-7.
"I am going to Eastbourne and Wimbledon in the best form possible. I couldn't have had a better week getting ready for it," Baltacha said.
Roger Federer won his first title of the season when he battled back from a set down to beat Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4 and win the Halle Open in Germany.
The world No.3, who has now won the Wimbledon warm-up event on grass six times, needed to dig deep for his 77th career title and extend his head-to-head over Youzhny to an impressive 15-0.
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