MARIA Tsaptsinos was “ecstatic” to win the first women’s singles title of her career at the PG Mutual National Championships.
The 21-year-old Reading player was seeded second for the event in Nottingham and took on top seed, defending champion and fellow Commonwealth Games medallist Tin-Tin Ho in the final.
Tsaptsinos set down a marker with a fast start, but saw Ho fight back to level at two sets apiece.
However, Tsaptsinos raised her level to take the trophy for the first time with a scoreline of 4-2 (11-5, 13-11, 11-13, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5).
Tsaptsinos had reached the final after a pulsating semi-final against another Commonwealth Games medallist, Denise Payet, coming from two sets down to win 4-2 (8-11, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 16-14, 11-8).
She said: “I’m ecstatic, happy, all those emotions. I played well, so that tops it – if you play well and feel good, it makes a difference.
“My mentality was very strong, I had my tactics laid down and fought for every ball. She didn’t play her best and I raised my level quite a bit.”
Tsaptsinos and Ho teamed up to win the Women’s Doubles title for the fourth time as a pair and Tsaptsinos’ fifth title overall.
They came from 2-0 down to beat Payet and Emily Bolton 3-2 (8-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-5) in the final.
In the mixed doubles, Tsaptsinos and Tom Jarvis, the top seeds, were surprisingly beaten by Ho and Josh Bennett, ranked No. 3, in the semi-finals, the victorious pair winning 3-2 (8-11, 11-4, 3-11, 11-9, 12-10).
With Ho also having won the Under 21 women’s singles, it meant Tsaptsinos was a ‘party pooper’ in the senior singles final, her win denying Ho a clean sweep of all four titles available to her.
Tsaptsinos admitted: “This was her last chance to win all four as she won’t be eligible for the U21s next season, so I feel bad about that because she deserves it. I’m gutted for her but very happy for me.”
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