Bouchard wins Nuremberg Cup for 1st WTA title

NUREMBERG, Germany (AP) Eugenie Bouchard of Canada defeated Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 Saturday to win the Nuremberg Cup for her first WTA title.

The second-seeded Bouchard, who had not lost a set on the way to her second career final, held her nerve in the third set after five breaks of serve in a row to win in 1 hour, 53 minutes.

Pliskova beat top-seeded Angelique Kerber and No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina to reach the final, but the Czech was unable to claim her second career title after Kuala Lumpur in 2013.

''She's a great player, and she can be very dangerous at times, so I'm really glad I stayed with it and kept fighting for it during the third set,'' Bouchard said.

The 20-year-old Bouchard had won the only previous matchup between the pair in the first round of the U.S. Open last year.

''This is kind of like a stepping stone for me. Winning a WTA title is of course a goal I've had, and I'm so happy to accomplish it, but I still want to achieve more - more titles, bigger titles,'' Bouchard said.

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