China's Peng wins title at Houston challenger tennis tournament

WASHINGTON -- Playing her first event since Wimbledon, former world No 14 Peng Shuai of China grabbed the women's singles title at the Houston challenger tennis tournament with a comeback win over Lauren Davis of the United States 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the final on Sunday.

Peng, playing with a wild card, overcame a disappointing first set to engineer the come-from-behind victory in two and a half hours.

Persistent rain throughout the day caused the final to be delayed numerous times before the decision was made to play the championship match indoors.

It took former world No 26 Davis 46 minutes to claim the first set, despite the lopsided scoreline. The American won most of the key points throughout the opening set, converting all three of her break points while saving all three break points against her.

Davis then went up an early break in the second set, leading 3-1, but the Chinese player began to turn the tables. Peng broke back and held firm up to 5-5. Peng then broke Davis for the second time in the match and served out the set at love, winning at 7-5.

In the decider, both players played solid game but Peng converted on the sole break point chance which was enough to hand the Chinese player the title.