MARBELLA, Spain, April 11 (UPI) -- Italy's Flavia Pennetta rallied over home crowd favorite Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain Sunday to win the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella.
Pennetta came back after dropping the second set of her 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory, winning her ninth career WTP singles championship and first since last July's event in Palermo, Italy.
With the win, the world No. 16 Pannetta improved to 9-10 all-time in WTA finals. She previously lost the championship match of this year's Auckland event to Yanina Wickmayer.
Pennetta ran into trouble in the second set after No. 8 seed Suarez Navarro regrouped from a poor opening frame, forcing a third set in her third straight match. Their contest had six service breaks -- the final one coming when Pennetta ended the match on her second match point.
Suarez Navarro lost in the Marbella final for the second year in a row.
