She was ranked 283 in the WTA rankings at the end of the last year. She's currently ranked 209 and all that Marina Melnikova's wants is to break into the top 200 by the end of the year. Seeded third, Melnikova took a step closer to reaching her goal with a 6-2 7-6(7) win over fourth seed Tadeja Majeric of Slovenia to clinch the CCI-ITF Women's Tennis Tournament held at the CCI, Churchgate on Saturday. The win saw the Russian earn 50 WTA points in the process.
"I can't tell you how happy I am. I should make the top-200 cut by the end of the week with this result. 180 or 190, it depends on the other tournaments happening simultaneously elsewhere. I hope to win next week in New Delhi, but I think I did enough to achieve my goal," said Melnikova, who will play an ITF tournament next week in the capital.
These 50 points are worth their weight in gold for it gives the Russian a chance to play in the Australian Open qualifiers next year. "Now that I won today, I will play the qualifiers of the Australian Open, I'm very happy about that. The schedule between now and then is packed as I will be flying back to Europe, then back to Asia to play in China to play some WTA and ITF tournaments," said the Sharapova fan, who played the US Open Qualifers this year, only to lose 7-5 7-6 in the first round. "The match was so close and now I have a chance to better that performance in Melbourne."
Melnikova has her origins from the city of Perm, eastern Russia, but made a move to Germany after finishing school where she practices at the Russian academy in Dusseldorf. "I have been living in Germany for the past eight years, but my coach is Russian," the 25-year-old said with a chuckle. "I started at the age five thanks to my parents who loved the game. I practice twice a day, my first practice is two hours of physical conditioning followed up another two hours in the evening," she said.
Results: 3-M Melnikova (RUS) bt 4-Tadeja Majeric 6-2 7-6(7)
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