GUANGZHOU, China – Lesia Tsurenko edged past defending champion and No.2 seed Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to claim the title at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open.

Playing Guangzhou for the second time in her career, Tsurenko capped off her trip to the sprawling Chinese port city by taking home her second career title after a nearly two-hour-and-thirty-minute clash against Jankovic.

“I think today I played really good tennis, except maybe in the second set when I felt a little bit tired,” Tsurenko said in her post-match press conference. “But I said to myself that I have to give it all in the final set, and I was fighting for each point. I had to give 100 percent to win this title.”

The Tashkent Open is up next for the Ukrainian, who is coming off a career-best week at the Grand Slams with a fourth round appearance at the US Open. She plans to forgo Wuhan and heads to the Uzbekistani capital build on the recent success.

“I’ll go to Tashkent and I think I’ll be more relaxed there,” Tsurenko explained. “I will try to play good tennis, not losing too much energy and I will see maybe I will come back to China and play Beijing. But for now I am focusing on Tashkent.”

It was a taxing week for Jankovic, who also reached the semifinals in doubles with former No.1 Martina Hingis.

“It’s tough, because this tournament took a lot of energy out of me,” said the Serb, who has been struggling with shoulder issues throughout the season. “It’s so hot and humid here, and also when you take into consideration that it’s only my second tournament on hardcourt because I’m coming back from an injury.”  

On the doubles side, No.4 seeds Asia Muhammad and Peng Shuai took home the title with a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory over Olga Govortsova and Vera Lapko. Guangzhou was the pair’s first tournament together, and they didn’t drop a set en route to the title.

“Not many times when you play with someone for the first time, you get to win the whole tournament,” Muhammad said. “I’m really excited that we were able to do that. Our games mesh really well, and I really mean it when I say this but it doesn’t feel like it’s the first time we’ve played together. That’s something very positive that we have.”