Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez beat top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-5, 6-4 Saturday to win the Swedish Open for her second WTA Tour title.
The unseeded Spaniard, who won her first title in Bogota in February, rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the second set. She held serve to take a 5-4 lead, setting up the game point winner with a brilliant stop volley that was one of her biggest weapons in the final. Wozniacki managed to return the ball, but Martinez Sanchez then easily put it into the open court.
She set up the match point with another superb stop volley that Wozniacki could only return wide.
"This was the most enjoyable tournament for me so far this season," Martinez Sanchez said. "I felt right at home here and I hope to come back next year. I played very well today and I'm happy I played my own game."
In the opening set, Martinez Sanchez earned the decisive break for a 5-4 lead when Wozniacki netted a forehand. Martinez Sanchez wasted two set points in the next game at 40-15, but finally clinched the set with a crisp volley that Wozniacki returned into the net with a tame forehand.
"Maria played better than me, she played smart and it was difficult to get a rhythm with her stop volleys," Wozniacki said. "But I'm still happy to have reached the final."
Wozniacki, who turned 19 Saturday, is ranked ninth in the world and has won five WTA titles _ two this year at Ponte Vedra and Eastbourne.
"I'm sorry I spoiled your (birthday) celebrations, but I promise I will buy you something instead," Martinez Sanchez told Wozniacki at the post-match news conference.
The 54th-ranked Martinez Sanchez also beat two other seeded players on her way to the final.
The Swedish Open moved back to Bastad, where the first women's tournament was held in 1948, after five years on hard courts at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm.
The men's Swedish Open starts Monday.
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