By Jilawatan

RUSSIAN Vera Zvonareva claimed her eighth career WTA title with a straight-sets win over India’s Sania Mirza in the Pattaya Open final in Thailand.

The No.1 seed had some difficulties handling her opponent’s big forehands in the first set but was too strong in the second, taking the match 7-5 6-1 in one hour and 17 minutes.

Zvonareva, who reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open last month, started strongly and raced to a 5-2 lead in the first set but lost the next three games as Mirza fought back.

At 6-5, the Russian set up a second set point with a backhand winner and then forced a backhand error from the Indian to break Mirza’s serve and win the set.

Zvonareva took charge in the second set, breaking Mirza in the fourth and sixth games.