Gasparyan Caps Knee Surgery Comeback with WTA Tashkent Title

The Russian with the nasty one-handed backhand, Margarita Gasparyan won the Tashkent Open today, rolling past qualifier and countrywoman Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-2 to win her second career WTA title.
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“When I entered this event I wanted to just play a tournament,” said the Russian who entered the year unranked after injuries and entered the event ranked No. 299. “I didn’t think I will win the title. My goal was to play a lot of matches, I didn’t expect I would go far here.”

The 24-year-old stopped her 17-year-old friend and doubles partner by going up 4-0 in the first set and never looking back. Potapova was appearing in her second WTA final of the year after the Moscow River Cup.

“It’s been a amazing week for me,” Potapova said. “Most importantly I got to play many matches and I feel more confident. I have had a busy week playing singles and doubles, and really feel tired.”

Gasparyan, who lost in the qualifying in her only two tour appearances at the end of 2017, improved to 3-1 in career finals, winning her first since 2015 Baku.

In 2016 the Russian underwent multiple knee surgeries that kept her out almost all of last year.

“Originally I thought the process would be a few months and one surgery,” she said in August. “But it became one year and four months and two more surgeries.”

The teen Potapova, still so emerging on tour that she has no personal info on the WTA website, fell to 0-2 in career finals.