ITF W75 Trnava: Elena Pridankina vs Antonia Ruzic final analysis
Unfinished business in Trnava
Ten days ago, Antonia Ruzic (WTA #147) defeated Elena Pridankina (WTA #183) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to win the first of back-to-back ITF Tour W75 events held at the indoor hardcourts of the EMPIRE Academy in Trnava, Slovakia.
A result that improved Ruzic’s winning percentage in pro singles finals to 79%, from 11 wins and 3 losses. It also settled the unfinished business left by the 22-year old Croatian in Trnava when she brought her 2024 season to a premature end there.
At the time, Ruzic withdrew prior to her second round match of The 5th EMPIRE Women’s Indoor 2024 held in late November and shut down for the short remainder of the year. Unfortunate given that she was riding an 11-match unbeaten run and coming off consecutive ITF W50 titles in Vera Cruz (Mexico) and Trnava — she had claimed The 4th EMPIRE Women’s Indoor 2024 played the week before.
Ruzic started 2025 with a trio of 3-set losses but finally got her season going at WTA 250 Linz, reaching the second round as a qualifier after 3 good wins over Anca Todoni, Jodie Burrage and Mayar Sherif.
Three weeks without competition were followed by a welcome return to Trnava, where Ruzic had won her last 6 matches that were actually played. By the end of the week, the winning streak reached 11 matches and the venue of Ruzic’s last title in 2024 became the venue of her first title in 2025. It will also be remembered as the venue of her first career singles title above W50 level.
The final between Pridankina and Ruzic featured plenty of fast-paced rallies and shots with low net clearance. Here are the first 3 points of the match to exemplify it, all finished by winners.
📺 source: ITF Tour
By the end of the match, the positive differentials between winners and unforced errors accrued by both players — Pridankina at +2, Ruzic at +11 — attested for the quality of play.
Ruzic came out on top due to a superior ability to hit winners. She finished with 40 winners, 12 more than Pridankina’s total of 28.
While backhand performances were very similar, Ruzic outplayed Pridankina from the forehand wing by 13 points (-2 to -15). Off that side, the Croatian managed to hit 11 more winners (22 to 11) with 2 fewer errors (24 to 26).
Forehand Performances (returns & groundstrokes)
Pridankina: 11 winners / 26 errors = -15
Ruzic: 22 winners / 24 errors = -2
Backhand Performances (returns & groundstrokes)
Pridankina: 12 winners / 22 errors = -10
Ruzic: 13 winners / 22 errors = -9
Out of 26 forehand errors accumulated by the 19-year old Russian, 13 were made on returns.
Overall, Pridankina missed 19 returns. By contrast, Ruzic was great at getting returns in play and missed just 9 returns.
Returns in play
vs 1st serves: Pridankina 69% / Ruzic 85%
vs 2nd serves: Pridankina 82% / Ruzic 93%
Once returns found the court and rallies developed, Pridankina could only find consistent success when she moved forward, taking 15 of 23 net approaches (65%).
From the back of the court, Ruzic dominated. She enjoyed a 54-44 advantage in baseline duels and finished with a 51% (61/119) baseline win-rate, against 44% (46/104) from Pridankina.
Our groundstrokes data revealed that Ruzic was excellent on run-around forehands, striking 6 winning shots without an unforced error (marked by green box, below).
In addition, a lot of the credit to her title must go to down-the-line strikes. The eventual champion went line in 15 of 30 winning forehands and 12 of 17 winning backhands (marked by blue box). Those were the numbers that separated her from Pridankina.
Ruzic produced winning line groundstrokes in quantity and in big points.
In the decider, she grabbed the only break with a down-the-line passing shot winner.
And it was with a similar shot, albeit from a tougher angle, that Ruzic clinched the biggest title of her career to date.
Elena Pridankina (WTA #183) vs Antonia Ruzic (WTA #147)
2025 Trnava final - Match Data
Set by Set Stats
Points Won by Rally length
Rally length
Strokes Breakdown
Winners and Errors (returns and rally shots)
Serve and Return
1st Serves
2nd Serves
Return & rallying performance
Points won breakdown
This final section gives a last, broader look at the match by presenting how each player won points. Points are listed according to their frequency (highest to lowest) and are named in relation to the last touch on the ball. For simplicity, groundstrokes hit from the 5th shot onwards are grouped together.
Breakdown by side (FHs or BHs)
Breakdown by error type (UFEs or FEs)
To find out more about the stats published here, please visit the following post.
While we follow the same criteria used on all major tennis events, our stats are collected through our own video analysis and are not official WTA or ITF stats.
Thanks for reading!
— Tennis Inside Numbers