MELBOURNE, Jan 17 : World number eight Mirra Andreeva warmed up for the Australian Open with a comfortable 6-3 6-1 victory over fellow teenager Victoria Mboko in the Adelaide International final on Saturday to claim her fourth WTA Tour title.
The 18-year-old Russian, who won back-to-back WTA 1000 titles last year in Dubai and Indian Wells, will meet Paris Olympics silver medallist Donna Vekic in the opening round at Melbourne Park.
Mboko, 19, raced to a 3-0 lead but Andreeva turned the tables to reel off the next six games to take the opening set.
It was one-way traffic in the second set as Andreeva broke early to take the opening three games and sealed the match on serve, setting herself up perfectly for the year’s opening Grand Slam, which begins on Sunday.
Canadian Mboko took a medical timeout midway through the match. The world number 17, who became the youngest player since Serena Williams to beat four major champions in an event on the way to winning last year’s Canadian Open, faces Australian Emerson Jones in her Melbourne Park opener.
In the Auckland men’s final, Jakub Mensik beat Sebastian Baez 6-3 7-6(7) to collect his second ATP title after his breakthrough triumph at last year’s Miami Open, where the 20-year-old beat his mentor Novak Djokovic in the final.
Mensik opens his Australian Open campaign against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, while Baez meets big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
