Slovakian top seed Jana Cepelova defeated wild card Italian player Maria Elena Cemerin 6-1, 6-2 to claim her first singles title in two years. Cepelova powered her way to victory in the one and a half hour match at the 16th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge (AHTC) at the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort and Spa on Saturday November 16, 2013. The event saw a record number of entries in the $75,000 tournament.
It was great news for Cepelova, who earlier in the year crashed out of the US Open with a lower back injury. The victory against the 31-year-old Italian moves her up at least 25 places from her current ITF ranking of 94.
In the doubles final Vitalia Diatchenko and Olga Savchuk beat twin sisters Lyudmyla and Nadiya Kichenok 7-5, 6-1.
Khalaf Al Habtoor, Chairman of the Habtoor Group, a keen tennis player himself, presented the winners and runners-up with their trophies. Al Habtoor started the AHTC in 1998. It has since kick started the careers of many well known female tennis stars.