Tig downs Bouchard in Istanbul final for maiden WTA crown

(Reuters) - Patricia Maria Tig rallied from a set down to beat Canada's Eugenie Bouchard 2-6 6-1 7-6(4) in the final of the TEB BNP Paribas Tennis Championship Istanbul on Sunday to claim her maiden WTA crown.

Romanian Tig, ranked 88 in the world, dropped the first set tamely but raced through the next to level the contest at one set apiece as her opponent let the advantage slip with a number of errors amid a nervy display.

But qualifier Bouchard, a former top-five player who reached the Wimbledon final and semi-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2014 before slipping to 272 in the rankings, showed plenty of fight to force a tiebreak in the final set.

The 26-year-old saved seven match points in the contest but Tig was not to be denied in the decider, as she held her nerve to close out the victory in two hours and 29 minutes.

Bouchard, who was playing in her first WTA final since 2016 and stunned top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova en route the title clash in Turkey, won her only trophy on the Tour six years ago when she prevailed in Nuremberg.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)