Sara Errani was as shocked as anyone on Sunday, as she routed Barbora Strycova 6-0, 6-2 to win the biggest title of her career at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. The title, the ninth of her career, capped off a surprising week in Dubai, which saw the 28-year-old Italian rebound from a poor start to the season and emerge from a decimated draw that saw upsets after upsets, day after day.

After finishing inside the Top 20 for the fourth consecutive year, Errani had struggled to string together wins before Dubai. Entering the tournament she had just two wins on the tour level – both in Sydney – and was coming off an 0-2 weekend in Fed Cup, where she lost to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. Errani said after that Fed Cup weekend, she considered withdrawing from Dubai.

“Yeah, [I thought about] maybe taking two or three weeks to just relax, try to recharge the energy and everything,” Errani told reporters. “But in the end with my coach we think it, and he say, Come on. Let’s go. You are ready to suffer. You are ready to fight.

“This is important. Doesn’t matter how it goes. If it goes Love and Love in the first round, doesn’t matter for me. I just want to go there and try to do the best that we can because there are many weeks that you don’t feel 100%. So you just have to be ready to whatever comes.”

Errani couldn’t have asked for a better draw in Dubai to get her confidence back in check. She opened with back-to-back wins over qualifiers Zhang Saisai and Yaroslava Shvedova, before rallying to beat Madison Brengle in three sets and then rolling past Elina Svitolina and Strycova. Errani will be back in the Top 20 on Monday.

“There is no explanation,” Errani said, when asked about her turnaround week. “Of course you work to be ready to the matches, but you never know which days you can play better or worse.

“The only thing I know is that I was ready to suffer, to stay on the court also in bad moments, or when I was not playing really good and just stay there. This is my mentally always. I know that doesn’t matter if you play good, bad, or whatever. Just the more important thing is just to stay there and try your best.”

But Errani may be selling herself short when she dismissed any explanation for her title run. After all, the theme of last week was resilience, and if you want to put a finer point on it, Italian resilience. Errani’s win kick-started a banner three days for the Italian veterans on tour, as 35-year-old Francesca Schiavone won her first title in nearly three years at the Rio Open, and 33-year-old Roberta Vinci became the oldest woman to make her top 10 debut. Who would have thought any of these results were in the cards 12 months ago.

“I can come here and lose first round, but if I try, everything is good for me,” Errani explained. “Doesn’t matter. You never know what can happen.

“Even in 2012, never thinking to do a final in Roland Garros and then it comes. So you cannot have objectives before because maybe can come something more or something worse.”

WTA Insider caught up with Errani after her triumph in Dubai for a quick chat before she was whisked away by the tournament director for more handshakes and congratulations. She was, undoubtedly, the woman of the hour.

WTA Insider: How does it feel to win such a big title in Dubai?
Errani: It’s amazing for me. It’s the biggest title that I won in my life so I’m really happy for sure.

WTA Insider: You actually considered not playing Dubai this week after a tough pair of losses at Fed Cup. What changed your mind?
Errani: Yeah. It was a tough moment and my coach and I were thinking to rest some weeks to recover the energy. Then we decided to come and it was really good for me.

WTA Insider: You came to Dubai with just two wins this season. I think it’s fair to say no one saw this result coming. How surprised are you?
Errani: I’m really surprised. Even in the first round I was down 5-1 in the first set to Zhang so there were tough moments throughout the week. But I’m really happy.

WTA Insider: What will a win like this do for your confidence going forward?
Errani: Of course, winning matches at a tournament like this is nice for my tennis. I hope to continue, to improve more, and make more results.

WTA Insider: You said you were experiencing some “tough moments” after Fed Cup that almost kept you out of this tournament. Can you explain what was going on?
Errani: Ah, that is something that will stay with me and my family and my team, so sorry, I will not speak about this.

WTA Insider: At the end of last season, when you spoke to your coach about the season, what was your assessment?
Errani: It was a good year for me. I finished in the Top 20, I won a tournament in Rio. It was not the best year for me but I had some good results so I was happy about that.

WTA Insider: So what was your mentality going into 2016?
Errani: Just to improve, to keep going, to improve every day. to put the good work in the pre-season and try to be ready for the next year.