Nuria Párrizas Díaz claimed the biggest title of her career on Saturday, as the unseeded Spaniard charged past No.7 seed Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-2, 6-2 to claim the Nordea Open.
The 29-year-old had been a frequent winner at ITF Challenger-level throughout her career, and had already picked up four $25,000 titles this season. But victory in her first WTA 125 final is by far the grandest trophy she has picked up in her professional career.
If Párrizas Díaz was cowed by the occasion, she did not show it during the final in Bastad, needing just an hour and 11 minutes to storm past former Top 40 player Govortsova.
"I'm feeling good all the week," Párrizas Díaz said, following her breakthrough victory. "Today is more special because it's the final, and I'm so happy for this."
"It's the first time I played and won [at WTA 125 level], so it's important for me," the Spaniard added.
Párrizas Díaz got over three-quarters of her first serves into play and won 80 percent of the points when she did -- an impeccable combination which led to her never facing a break point all day.
The title continues a season of improvement for the Spaniard, who made her WTA main-draw debut earlier this year as a qualifier in Bogota, and progressed all the way to the quarterfinals.
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Párrizas Díaz came close to making her Grand Slam main-draw debut this season as well, falling in the final round of qualifying at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
After being edged out by No.1 seed Maria Camila Osorio Serrano in Wimbledon qualifying, Párrizas Díaz brought that rapidly rising form into the Nordea Open, where she dropped only one set, to Maddison Inglis in the second round.
Against Govortsova, Párrizas Díaz converted four of her five break points to dominate proceedings. She did need four match points to close out the final game of the championship match, but prevailed at last to pick up the trophy.
With the Bastad title under her belt, Párrizas Díaz is projected to shatter her career-high ranking of World No.147, which she reached just last month.
It was also a sterling week for Govortsova, who reached her biggest singles final since she made the fourth of her four WTA singles finals at Tashkent in 2013.
32-year-old Govortsova is one of the growing number of returning mothers on tour, having given birth to son Dominic in 2018.
The doubles final was also contested on Saturday, and Sweden claimed a homeland titlist when Mirjam Bjorklund paired with Leonie Kung of Switzerland to claim the crown.
The unseeded duo of Bjorklund and Kung defeated No.3 seeds Tereza Mihalikova and Kamilla Rakhimova, 5-7, 6-3, [10-5] in an hour and 36 minutes of play.
"We didn't know if we were going to get in[to the draw], so we're really happy to stand here with the title," Bjorklund said, regarding their last-minute sign-in as a pairing. "That's definitely happening again."
