Tennis: Daria Saville, Matthew Dellavedova crowned singles champions at Gold Coast International 2024

Former tennis world number 20 Daria Saville’s injury comeback reached new heights, while an Australian Open winner was upstaged in the men’s final. Gold Coast International wrap here.

Daria Saville. Picture: Al Bello/Getty Images.

Former world number 20 Daria Saville was crowned the women’s singles champion at the Gold Coast International on Sunday.

Saville was the number one seed heading into the tennis tournament and didn’t disappoint, dropping just two sets en route to the final where she prevailed in straight sets over fellow Aussie Lizette Cabrera 7-5, 7-6.

Saville’s semi final and final had to be moved from KDV Sport in Carrara to Brisbane’s Pat Rafter Arena due to days of torrential rain on the Gold Coast.

The victory marks Saville’s fifth singles title on the ITF Circuit, accompanying her one singles and three doubles win on the WTA Tour.

She entered the tournament ranked 120 world and as the fifth-highest ranked Australian.

The Gold Coast win is a significant milestone for Saville, who ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in 2022 at the Japan Open and has had a career plagued by injury.

This year, she represented Australia at the Paris Olympics and in the Billie Jean King Cup.

Daria Saville of Team Australia poses for a portrait ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images for ITF)

Saville gallantly bowed out of the US Open in the first round in August, where she pushed Japan’s Ena Shibahara to three sets despite suffering from plantar fasciitis.

After her US Open loss, Saville had questioned whether it was worth continuing to pursue tennis.

“Mentally, it was tough because I felt that at some point, I felt that I didn’t even deserve it, because I didn’t put in the work,” Saville said at the time.

“It is just a cycle. I have had it before when I was playing injured and it is just a horrible cycle.

“I’m thinking, do I even want to do this anymore?’”

The loss marked a successive runner-up finish for Cabrera, who came up short against Destanee Aiava at the Brisbane QTC Tennis International just a fortnight earlier.

Dellavedova trumps Kubler

On the men’s side of the draw, Matthew Dellavedova overcame the ghosts of his loss in the final of last year’s Gold Coast International to down Jason Kubler in three sets.

The number two seed recovered after dropping the first set to surge to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win and clinch his fourth ITF title.

Dellavedova reached his first ITF singles final in Tunisia in 2022, and would go on to win singles crowns in Pontevedra, Papamoa and Wellington.

Matthew Dellavedova. Picture: Instagram.

Just earlier this month, Dellavedova and Kubler had met in the quarter finals of the Brisbane QTC Tennis International, where Kubler prevailed 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets.

After breaking into the top 1000 of the ATP rankings in 2022, Dellavedova was ranked 359th in the world heading into the tournament

Kubler, who was a wildcard entry at the Gold Coast International, made his name when he famously won the Australian Open doubles in 2023 alongside compatriot Rinky Hijikata.

31-year-old Kubler was once the world’s number one ranked junior but has undergone six knee reconstructions throughout his career. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of 63 in 2023.

The women’s doubles final was an all-Japanese affair, with Hikaru Sato and Eri Shimizu trumping Erina Hayashi and Kanako Morisaki.

In the men’s doubles final, Aussie Josh Charlton and Brit Emile Hudd defeated Issei Okamura and Daisuke Sumizawa of Japan in straight sets.

Originally published as Tennis: Daria Saville, Matthew Dellavedova crowned singles champions at Gold Coast International 2024