Diana Zavjalova of Latvia won 2023 Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) Waterloo Open.
Zavjalova secured her place in the five-player stepladder finals as the No. 4 seed, marking her fourth consecutive appearance in the stepladder this season. Demonstrating remarkable performance, she clinched four consecutive victories, securing her first title of the 2023 PWBA Tour season and the fifth of her career.
In the championship match, the 32-year-old right-hander from Latvia triumphed over the top-seed, Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, with a score of 279-244.
This victory marked Zavjalova's first PWBA Tour title since her triumph at the 2018 St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open in Seminole, Florida. Emotionally significant, the win was a much-needed boost for her.
'This has been a very long time coming,' Zavjalova said after the match. 'I have been knocking on this door for a long time. I have made a lot of TV shows and talked to a lot of people asking ‘Hey, how do I win again?’ Everyone told me to just keep knocking on the door and to keep being myself, and tha is what I did. I’m just happy.'
Throughout the Waterloo Open, Zavjalova exhibited an impressive average of 235.75 over the span of 28 games, and she maintained a score of 246 over four games during the stepladder finals.
The Waterloo Open was the first tournament of PWBA Championship Week. The culmination of the season, the 2023 PWBA Tour Championship, is set to commence on Sunday.
