Robson, gioia rinviata (Telegraph)

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After battling for the best part of three hours in 37C heat, Robson wrote on her Twitter page: “I think I just played in the sweatiest WTA final of the year.”

Held in Guangzhou, the third city of China, this was an absorbing and unusual match. Hsieh should have closed it out in a straightforward manner, given that she held five championship-points in the second set.

Robson, though, is proving a tough opponent to finish off. She saved eight match points in her previous defeat, against Sam Stosur at the US Open. On Saturday she seemed to have turned the match around when she levelled at one-set all and took a 3-0 lead in the decider.

At that point, Hsieh was apparently out on her feet, walking to many balls and struggling to get her serve over the net. Yet Robson perhaps showed her inexperience by making a couple of errors in her next service game, and the momentum shifted again. Hsieh rallied to finish the match off 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Asked about that turnaround, Robson said: “She started playing well again and she made the rallies longer. In the end I just ran out of energy. I kept fighting, but I wasn’t able to hit the shots as hard. The more matches you play, the more experience you get. To play in a really tough final like this is a big experience. Hopefully next time I play in a final I’ll be a little more ready for it, and hopefully it won’t be so humid.”