Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic kisses the trophy during the awarding ceremony of the women's final against Ashleigh Barty of Australia at the Sydney International tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, Jan. 12, 2019. Petra Kvitova won 2-1. (Xinhua/Zhu Hongye)
SYDNEY, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Young Aussie tennis sensation Alex De Minaur has taken out his first ever ATP single's title on Saturday evening, knocking over Italian veteran Andreas Seppi in straight sets.
The 19-year-old managed to overcome two tie breaks in the nail-biting contest, winning the match in front of adoring home fans 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
Overjoyed by the experience, the world number 29 told reporters after the match, "it's surreal. I couldn't think of a better place to get my first win!"
"It's been tough, because I have played a couple of finals and things haven't gone my way. And to finally be able to take that step further and get my first win, it's something that's really special in front of friends and family and in the courts I grew up," he said.
"That's definitely memories that are going to last forever."
But while it was ecstasy for one young Aussie, fellow countryman Ash Barty came up short in the women's final against Czech hitter Petra Kvitova.
Down in the first set and looking in trouble in the second, the two-time Grand slam winner fought her way back to edge out Barty in a three-set thriller 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3).
"It was such a great final, to be honest. It was a big fight until the end. That's the way final should be, I think," Kvitova said.
"I left everything out there. I was cramping in the end."
"She's Aussie, so she (is) used to these conditions. I played three times in the night, so for me it was totally different conditions, which from the beginning I feel very, very slow. So it just took me a while to get used to the rhythm and get back to the play."
Considered somewhat of a warm up to the Australian Open in Melbourne next week, the finalists will now make the trip south to battle it out for the prestigious Grand Slam.
