Dominika Cibulkova wrapped up her season in style, with the WTA Finals title after a 6-3, 6-4 win against world no. 1 Angelique Kerber on Sunday. The Slovakian capped off her season with back-to-back championships.

Serving at an extremely high level and attacking Kerber with relentless pressure, Cibulkova kept the German off balance for much of the match, something that did not happen often this season. Kerber, known for her defense and ability to turn it into offense, struggled to turn the tables despite fighting to the end.

After a first set that took just 32 minutes, Kerber would bounce back in the second. But she could find no inroads into the Cibulkova serve. The 27-year old from Bratislava placed 83 percent of her first serves in play and won 71 percent of those points.

However, the match came down to an epic 10th game in the second set. Kerber, who had a tremendous season, battled tooth and nail and fought off three match points. She would create two break point opportunities but could not capitalize as the tug of war produced tremendous shot-making by both players. But in her fourth match point opportunity, Cibulkova would not be denied as she closed out the match.

“This is something very important for me, because as you can see, on the court I put a lot of emotions, and emotions just affect me,” Cibulkova said after the win. “This is a big moment for me. It’s the biggest moment in my career.”

The moment nearly failed to happen as Cibulkova lost her first two matches in Singapore. She advanced to the semifinals after a tiebreak scenario.  There, she was forced to rally to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova after dropping the first set, which set up her finals appearance.

 Her attacking style forced the usually clean hitting Kerber into 23 unforced errors. Meanwhile, she yielded only 14 errors and countered with 28 winners.

She had praise for her opponent after the championship victory, “It’s hard to describe in words (how I feel). I have to congratulate Angelique Kerber, you are an inspiration for me to play hard this year. With hard work, everything is possible.”

It was an interesting journey for Cibulkova who began the season ranked 38th after missing a bulk of 2015 due to injury. But in a year in which she became married, she also finished 2016 ranked world no. 5 with a bullet after finishing with titles at Linz and Singapore. She will look to carry her momentum into the Australian Open in January where she was a finalist in 2014.

Meanwhile, once the disappointment of losing the match fades, Kerber will have much to celebrate as well. It was a year in which she won two grand slam titles and overtook Serena Williams as world no. 1 where she will finish the year.

“I’ve had an amazing year. I gave everything on court today,” Kerber said. “We’ve had an amazing year. For me, it’s an honor to play on the biggest stage in front of you all, the whole world.”

The drama will continue when the 2017 season begins at Brisbane, Auckland, and Shenzhen in early January.