Jovana Jaksic saves 14 match points, wins ITF Women’s Circuit tournament

Jovana Jaksic, shown here at a 2013 tournament in Mexico, won an ITF event in dramatic fashion last weekend. (Miguel Sierra/EPA) Jovana Jaksic's path to the

Jovana Jaksic, shown here at a 2013 tournament in Mexico, won an ITF event in dramatic fashion last weekend. (Miguel Sierra/EPA)

Jovana Jaksic's path to the final of an ITF Women's Circuit tournament in Surprise, Ariz., last weekend was straightforward, but her victory in the title match was anything but routine.

The 20-year-old from Serbia, ranked No. 146, saved 14 match points and defeated former No. 26 Tamira Paszek 4-6, 7-6 (13), 7-5. Jaksic, who reached the final with four consecutive straight-set victories, collected her 14th ITF title.

"I still can't believe I saved 14 match points," Jaksic said, according to the WTA website. "I have no idea how I did it. I have to say that each time I faced a match point, I played an amazing shot and managed to hit winners on most of them. And I was thinking, 'If I can save one, I can save the second and the third.' But I stopped counting after the sixth match point! I didn't even know the score in the tiebreak until the end of the match. I was just fighting and fighting."

This was Jaksic's first title of 2014. Jaksic won five ITF titles last year, when she finished at No. 152 after starting at No. 368. For more from the WTA Tour on Jaksic, click here.

Jaksic tweeted about her victory at the $25K event:

I saved 14 match points and won my 14th title! Thanks everyone in Phoenix for this amazing week @itfprocircuit#happypic.twitter.com/IdRzMlhEK6 — Jovana Jaksic (@JaksicJovana) <a href="https://twitter.com/JaksicJovana/status/437752490164224000">February 23, 2014</a></blockquote>