Roberta Vinci wins St Petersburg trophy, ends three-year title drought

Italy’s Roberta Vinci captured her 10th WTA singles title on Sunday, outclassing Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3 to win the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.

Italy’s Roberta Vinci captured her 10th WTA singles title on Sunday, outclassing Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3 to win the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.

Winner Roberta Vinci of Italy, right, and runner-up Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, celebrate with their trophies after the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy final on February 14, 2016. (AP Photo)

The US Open finalist, who had previously announced that she would quit tennis at the end of 2016, showed that she still had the weapons to compete with her younger rivals as 18-year-old Bencic failed to cope with the second seed’s attacking tactics.

Vinici, who ended Serena Williams’ bid to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2015 by beating the American in the US Open semi-finals, broke Bencic three times in the first set and once in the second to win her first title since 2013.

Ending her title drought also raised the possibility that the 32-year-old Vinci may reconsider her decision to retire at the end of the season.

Asked if she now plans to play for a few more years, she said: “Two, three years? No. One more, maybe. Why not?”

World number one duo Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza extended their winning streak to 40 matches after they beat Vera Dushevina and Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-1 in the doubles final. This was their fourth title of the year and 13th overall.