MIDLAND --  

On Sunday in the final of the 21^st Dow Corning Tennis Classic, Hradecka of the Czech Republic showed off her singles skills and took home the top prize, beating Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou, 6-3, 6-3, at the Midland Community Tennis Center.

 

“I don’t like that when people say I’m known more for doubles,” Hradecka said before breaking into a smile. “Singles is my No. 1 priority right now.”

 

The victory was the first for Hradecka at the $75,000 pro circuit level and she has yet to win a WTA Tour singles title but has won 13 now on the ITF singles level. She gets 110 valuable WTA ranking points with her win and should move up several spots from her current ranking of No. 114 in the world when the new rankings are released on Monday. She most likely will surpass her career-high ranking which was 112 last November.

 

The fifth-seeded Hradecka, who was awarded $11,400, has a 180-67 doubles record and won 23 doubles titles on the ITF circuit. She added to her winnings with a semifinal performance in doubles at Midland as she and partner Michaela Pastikova split $1,045. For winning the singles title, Hradecka was also given a two-karat diamond bracelet courtesy of tournament sponsor Jenkins Jewelers.

 

Hradecka, who plays two-handed from both sides, did not lose her serve and kept Daniilidou off balance most of the day with her aggressive style.

 

“That’s her game,” said Daniildou, who accepted the runner-up check of $6,080. “Her game is to play aggressive and that’s what she did. She wants to just hit the ball two, three times. You saw that when the points were longer I usually won them. I knew she played like that and had a big power game.”

 

It’s on to Memphis, Tenn., next for Hradecka and a main draw appearance at the WTA Tour stop there. The Midland wild-card entrant Daniilidou is off to Surprise, Ariz., for a $25,000 USTA pro circuit stop.

 

In the double final Yi Chen of Taipei and Rika Fujiwara of Japan had some nice success their first time playing with each other as they beat Melinda Czink of Hungary and Lindsay Lee-Waters of Dunwoody, Ga., 7-5, 7-6 (5). The winning team splits $4,180 and the runners-up $2,090 per team.