91 points apiece: Chwalinska outlasts Kartal 2-1 (2-6, 6-4, 6-2) in Wuhan final

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Ninety-one points each. That is what the Wuhan final produced — 91 for Maja Chwalinska, 91 for Sonay Kartal — and only one trophy, because Chwalinska stacked her points into the games that mattered, taking 14 to 12: 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. No tiebreak, no ace, one double fault apiece.

Kartal owned the opening set. She won 17 of 24 return points while Chwalinska managed just 7, broke three times to Chwalinska's one, and closed it 6-2. Chwalinska saved four of seven break points; Kartal saved none of the one she faced. On serve the set read 10-14; on return, 7-17.

Then the second set rewrote the script. Chwalinska's return woke up — 30 of 42 points won on Kartal's serve, three breaks — and she needed every one, because Kartal faced 13 break points and saved 10 of them. Chwalinska saved just one of three on her own serve, yet still took the set 6-4. The decider was all hers: a 100% save rate on the three break points she faced, two breaks converted, and Kartal managed only 9 service points as Chwalinska closed it 6-2.

The spotlight belongs to Chwalinska's return: 46 receiver points won to 40, six breaks converted to five. Kartal was, by almost every serving measure, the better server — 51 service points to 45, 42 first-serve points to 36, 76 of 97 first serves in to 63 of 85 — and still lost. Neither player landed an ace; each served a single double fault across three sets.

Same point count, opposite trophy. The scoreboard rewards whoever wins the tight games, and on Sunday in Wuhan that was Maja Chwalinska.