MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/. A victory at the WTA tennis tournament in Washington was very important for Russian player Svetlana Kuznetsova and hopefully she will also play at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) told TASS on Monday.
Kuznetsova won on Sunday the 2018 WTA tournament in Washington DC to take her second career Citi Open title. She played against Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the final encounter, which lasted for 2 hours and 33 minutes. The 33-year-old Russian player edged Croatia’s No. 7 seed with the final score of 4-6; 7-6 (9-7); 6-2.
"This victory is very important for Kuznetsova and I want to congratulate her with it," RTF President Shamil Tarpishchev said in an interview with TASS. "It is always to come back after such injury that she sustained earlier."
"We should laud Kuznetsova for her prompt comeback, for her patience and psychological stability throughout the tournament," Tarpishchev said. "We (RTF) are very glad and hope that this was not a swan song and Svetlana will be able to play at the next Summer Olympics."
Before the final match in Washington, Kuznetsova was ranked 128th in the WTA ratings list, while Vekic was ranked 44th. This year’s win at the tournament in Washington added up to her previous victory here in 2014.
In all, Kuznetsova is the winner of 18 WTA tennis tournaments and is the two-time Grand Slam champion, namely of the 2004 US Open and the 2009 French Open.