The New Zealand tennis player Marina Erakovic has won her first WTA singles title after scoring a walkover in the final of the 280 thousand dollar Memphis WTA tournament.
Erakovic took the first set off third seed and world number 40 Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-1, before the German was forced to retire.
The big-hitting German had been battling an undisclosed illness for several days.
Erakovic is the first New Zealand woman to take a WTA singles title since Belinda Cordwell in Singapore in 1989.
Previously Erakovic had been a beaten finalist on two occasions.... in 2011 she lost in Quebec and last year she lost in th final of this tournament.
The win puts Erakovic in good form for the big Indian Wells and Miami combined men's and women's events over the next few weeks.
It is expected her ranking will improve from its current position of 71 to around the mid 60's as a result of her title win.
