Title hopes fall short for former Hilton Head tennis standout
Alison Riske will have to wait a little longer for her second career WTA Tour title, falling in the final of the Shenzhen Open for the second straight year with a 6-3, 6-4 loss Saturday to Katerina Siniakova.
The 20-year-old Czech player had little trouble against Riske in the final, breaking the American twice in each set to close it out in just under 80 minutes. The victory capped Siniakova’s best week on tour, defeating two top-10 players to reach the final: No.4 Simona Halep and No.10 Johanna Konta.
Riske, a former Van der Meer Academy student, also upended a top-10 player when she outlasted No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals. Saturday marked her fifth career final, prevailing only at the 2014 Tianjin Open.
Riske also lost the title match in Shenzhen a year ago, when she was beaten by Radwanska.
Jeff Shain contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 7, 2017 at 9:29 AM with the headline "Title hopes fall short for former Hilton Head tennis standout."