Australia’s Sam Stosur has come up short as she played for her first singles title since she won the Strasbourg title in 2017.
USA’s Sofia Kenin won the tile with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 win in the final.
Stosur who has seen her ranking fall outside the top 100 will return to around no. 92 when the rankings are updated on Monday.
At 4-4 in the second set Stosur was looking confident and appeared to be heading to another title but Kenin quickly snuffed that out and then powered to victory.
“Sam is such a tough player to play, and the match was not easy,” Kenin said. “I’m just really happy with the way I fought. I knew it was going to be a tough match and I needed to leave everything on the court, and I’m so happy to have won.
“This was my first time being here in Guangzhou, and I loved every minute of it. I really liked it here from the start. I’m so happy about the support that I got from all the fans here, and of course, the title makes it even better.”
“I feel proud of myself. It was a tough match today. She played very, very well for the whole match, and really picked it up in that second and third sets,” Stosur said.
“I still made the final, so there’s lots to be proud of. I think it was pretty close and there wasn’t a whole lot in it, but I didn’t get off to the start in the third that I wanted to, and that’s what made the difference as it went on.”