Daria Kasatkina fights against her Russian compatriot Mirra Andreeva and wins the Ningbo Open

Daria Kasatkina fought past her good friend Mirra Andreeva to win the Ningbo Open title in China.

The fifth-seeded Russian Kasatkina defeated her teenage compatriot 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in a heated encounter.

Andreeva broke down in tears after the match after blowing a 3-0 lead in the final set.

However, she was quickly comforted by Kasatkina before joking: “I really tried not to cry because I knew the pictures would be ugly but I just couldn’t help it, I’m sorry guys.”

World number 11 Kasatkina appeared to be on the right track after only two unforced errors in a dominant opening set.

The 17-year-old Andreeva staged a stirring comeback and appeared to be in control after winning the first three games of the deciding set.

But Kasatkina took advantage of a series of unforced errors and won five games in a row before rolling out victory.

Andreeva, who reached the semifinals of the French Open this year and won silver in doubles at the Paris Olympics, had been hoping for the second singles title of her career.

Kasatkina, meanwhile, had lost four singles finals this year – with Andreeva jokingly congratulating her on “finally completing one of them”.

“Thank you for reminding me that I lost so many finals this year,” Kasatkina said afterwards.

And she added: “Congratulations on the final. I’ve seen you cry, but you’re going to do a lot of them. I hope we’ll talk more about it in the future.”

For Kasatkina it is the second title of the year after the victory in Eastbourne in June and the eighth individual triumph of her career.

At the Nordic Open in Stockholm, Briton Harry Patten won his fourth men’s doubles title in his first year with his new partner Harri Heliovaara from Finland.

The top seeds defeated Czech pair Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl 7-5, 6-3 in the final on Sunday.