BUCHAREST: World No. 3 Simona Halep of Romania picked up her second victory of the season as she won the WTA final in Bucharest with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Italy’s Roberta Vinci.

The 22-year-old, who won the Doha title in February, had lost previous finals this year at Madrid and Roland Garros, was also a semi-finalist at Wimbledon and quarter-finalist at the Australian Open.

“It’s the first WTA tournament organized in Romania and I’m delighted with all my heart to have won it,” beamed the 22-year-old.

Halep broke her opponent’s serve to open the match and sailed through the first before Vinci, the world number 24, took an early 2-0 lead in the second set.

However, Halep built her offensive behind a solid backhand and came back from an early break down to seal the match with her second match point.

It was Halep’s eighth career WTA title.

Petkovic beats Rogers to win Gastein Ladies

In Bad Gastein, Austria, Andrea Petkovic took another step toward a return to the top 10 of the WTA rankings by winning her second title of the season at the Gastein Ladies on Sunday.

The 20th-ranked German, who played her first clay-court event since reaching the semifinals at last month’s French Open, beat Shelby Rogers of the United States 6-3, 6-3 to follow up on her victory at Charleston in April.

“It’s a super feeling, I am totally happy,” said Petkovic, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 9 almost three years ago. “I want back into the top 10 and I am just playing good tennis. My serve and my footwork can still improve but I am playing well.”

Petkovic also won the event in 2009 for her first of four career titles, which have all come on clay.

“I wanted this victory so badly,” Petkovic said. “I am very relieved. Shelby played very aggressive tennis. I didn’t know her game but I’ve done some research on YouTube.”

Rogers, who came through qualifying and was ranked 147th, had not been beyond the second round of a WTA event before.

The 21-year-old American from Mount Pleasure, South Carolina, hadn’t beaten a top-50 player before but defeated No. 16-ranked Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 40 Camila Giorgi and No. 14 Sara Errani all in straight sets this week before going down to Petkovic.

“I had an incredible time,” said Rogers, who has won four events on the lower-tier ITF circuit. “This has definitely been a week I will never forget.”


Bautista Agut claims Stuttgart title

In Stuttgart, Germany, Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut claimed a second title in four weeks on Sunday when he defeated Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the Stuttgart final.

Bautista Agut improved to 11-1 since mid-June with the win, having also captured his maiden tour-level crown at ‘s-Hertogenbosch on the eve of Wimbledon.

World number 23 Bautista Agut will break into the top 20 for the first time when the new rankings are released on Monday.

“Since the start of the season, I believed a lot in myself and my work,” Bautista Agut told ATPWorldTour.com.

“I’ve been playing really well, won a lot of matches and it was only a question of time before this happened.”

His only recent blip was a third round loss at Wimbledon although in his defense, it was against 2013 champion Andy Murray.