CHICAGO, IL, USA – Petra Martic claimed the Oracle Challenger Series Chicago title as she secured a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Mona Barthel on Sunday – the first WTA Tour crown of her career.

The 27-year-old Croatian had reached the final without dropping a set and continued that form against her German opponent and admitted that she felt her adaptability in a week that saw matches played both indoors and out was the likely secret to her success.

“With all of these changes, playing indoors, outdoors, cold, hot, everything was really an adjustment,” she said. “I think I do this very well, I think that’s what brought me this title.”

Moreover, it allowed her to complete a couple of important goals for the season, namely lifting a trophy at this level for the first time and moving into the Top 40 of the WTA Ranking.

“With this title, I achieved my goal for the year - to get to the top 40 - so I’m pretty happy,” the new WTA World No.38 said.

Jamie Loeb, Sesil Karatantcheva, Varvara Lepchenko and Tajana Maria were all victims of Martic before Sunday’s impressive success.