The South African born player dropped the second set of the final and thought a five set match was likely before quickly regathering herself to prevail 15-11, 11-15, 15-5, 15-10.

Kennedy, who lived in London before calling Sydney home, said she was forced to work a lot harder to win the title this year.

“Yes it is my second time running thank goodness for that,” she said.

“It was a lot tougher this time around than last year. The standards of the girls have certainly improved and it was great to see that more ladies entered as well.”

Ranked eighth in Australia and third in the state, Kennedy said she was pleased with the way she played right throughout the tournament.

“I was very happy with the way I played in the final,” she said.

“I was struggling in the first game and I thought, ‘oh no here comes another five set match.’

“But I managed to pull it out in the end.”

Besides taking the title, Kennedy walked off the court on Sunday full of praise for the Bathurst tournament and the friendly atmosphere associated with it.

“It a fantastic place, we love Bathurst it is such a nice quiet, little country town,” she said.

“The tournament itself is brilliant, it has got such a social vibe, we all come up on Friday and have a barbecue at Dave’s [Fuller] all supplied for us. It is just brilliant, really great.

“This is the only country tournament that I’ve played in and I love it, because it is a lot smaller and people know each other.”

It was something Bathurst Open organiser Dave Fuller was delighted to hear.

“The tournament has been run very well and has run to time and I must thank everyone who helped the tournament running so smoothly, doing all the behind the scenes work,” he said.

“We had 75 players at the tournament this year, which was down, but the strength in the men’s and ladies open was amazing.”