Israel's
Anna Smashnova improved her record in WTA finals to 10-0 for her career Sunday in Modena when Italian homecountry favorite
Tathiana Garbin retired due to heat illness in the first set tiebreak.
Garbin requested a medical timeout trailing 0-3 in the tiebreak, then nearly fainted on the sidelines due to the 95 degree temperatures. The Italian then retired with cramps and sunstroke, carried out of a stretcher.
"I felt sick at 2-0 and from that moment things started to get worse," Garbin said. "I was scared because I couldn't breathe any longer. It was terrible. I believe I could have won because I arrived at this tournament very fit. I regret that things have gone this way."
It was Smashnova's first title since 2004 Vienna.
In the doubles final the unseeded team of
Yulia Beygelzimer and Mervana Jugic-Salkic rolled top seeds Gabriela Navratilova and
Michaela Pastikova 6-2, 6-0 for their first WTA title as a team.
