Laura Pigossi Defeats Maria Lourdes Carle to Claim Argentina Open Title

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Laura Pigossi is celebrating a special first…

The 29-year-old Brazilian professional tennis player defeated Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday to win the Argentina Open.

World No.137 Pigossi took 1 hour and 32 minutes to topple 175th-ranked Carle on the Argentine’s home soil. Pigossi is now 3-0 against Carle in their head-to-head, with all three of the Brazilian’s victories coming in straight sets.

In the process, Pigossi claimed her first-ever WTA Challenger title.

In the semifinals, she outlasted Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (2).

Pigossi, currently ranked No. 137 in the WTA rankings, has won eight ITF titles in her career, as well as a bronze medal in women’s doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Games alongside compatriot Luisa Stefani.

Marina Bassols Ribera Defeats Erika Andreeva to Win Andorra Open Title

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Marina Bassols Ribera is celebrating a second WTA Challenger title…

The 23-year-old Spanish tennis player defeated Erika Andreeva in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6(3), to win the Andorra Open.

In the process, Bassols Ribera claimed her second WTA Challenger title in three tries, all attempted this year. She defeated Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez’s at the WTA 125 Ljubljana in September and was the runner-up at the WTA 125 Valencia in June, losing to Egypt’s Mayar Sherif.

Bassols Ribera previously won against France’s Alize Cornet, German Noma Noha Akugue (6-3, 7-5), Russian Ekaterina Reyngold (6-3, 6-2) and Latvian wildcard Anastasija Sevastova (2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Andorrà tournament.

Bassols Ribera, currently ranked 145, is expected to rise in the WTA rankings.

Maria Lourdes Carle Defeats Julia Riera to Reach Argentina Open Final

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Maria Lourdes Carle has advanced to her first WTA Challenger final…

The 23-year-old Argentine professional tennis player, the No. 8 seed, has reached the final of the Argentina Open by defeating No. 7 seed Julia Riera 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club on Saturday evening.

Carle, ranked No 175, will play Brazilian Laura Pigossi, the No 5 seed, next.

In the previous rounds of the Argentinian WTA 125 tournament, Carle won against Brazilian Gabriela Ce (3-6, 6-0, 6-3), Ipek Oz (6-1, 6-3) and Frenchwoman Diane Parry, the top seed (7-6 (2), 6-3).

Riera, ranked No 163, defeated Frenchwoman Selena Janicijevic (7-5, 6-3), Romanian Miriam Bulgaru (6-2, 6-3) and Slovenian Polona Hercog (6-3, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

On the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour, Carle has won 12 singles titles and five doubles titles.

Laura Pigossi Defeats Renata Zarazúa to Reach Argentina Open Final

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Laura Pigossi is aiming for her first-ever WTA Challenger title…

The 29-year-old Brazilian professional tennis player outlasted Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (2) at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club on Saturday to reach the finals at the Argentina Open, a WTA 125 tournament.

Pigossi will next face Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle, the tournament’s No. 8 seed who defeated compatriot Julia Riera 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Pigossi, currently ranked No. 137 in the WTA rankings, has won eight ITF titles in her career, as well as a bronze medal in women’s doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Games alongside compatriot Luisa Stefani.

Leylah Fernandez Helps Lead Canada to Country’s First-Ever Billie Jean King Cup Title

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Leylah Fernandez has helped Canada make history…

The 21-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian tennis player and her compatriot Marina Stakusic won their singles matches as Canada beat Italy 2-0 to claim its first-ever Billie Jean King Cup title on Sunday.

Stakusic, ranked 258th in the world, put Canada ahead by defeating No. 43 Martina Trevisan 7-5, 6-3 for the biggest win of her career, then Fernandez sealed the victory by beating Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-3 at La Cartuja Stadium.

The 20th-ranked Fernandez, runner-up in the 2021 US Open, was perfect for Canada in Seville with four victories, while the 18-year-old Stakusic entered the tournament without a win over a top-100 opponent but earned three of them while representing her nation in Spain.

“I’m so happy and honored that I could play this week,” Stakusic, who didn’t play a WTA main draw match this year, said on court. “This has been the best week of my life.”

Canada defeated 11-time champion Czech Republic in the semifinals, while four-time champion Italy advanced past Slovenia for its first final appearance since 2013.

The 12-team BJK Cup Finals offered a record total of $9.6 million in prize money, including $2.4 million to the champions, the same as the men’s Davis Cup.

Canada, captained by Heidi El Tabakh, is the 13th nation to win the Billie Jean King Cup and the second new champion after Switzerland‘s triumph in Glasgow a year ago.

“I don’t know what to say,” El Tabakh said. “I’m so proud of this team. These girls are incredible. It’s a dream come true.”

The Canada men’s team is the current Davis Cup champion.

The women’s teams competed in four round-robin groups, with the winners advancing to the semifinals. The United States was eliminated by the Czech Republic in a group that also included title-holder Switzerland.

The biggest team competition in women’s tennis started two days after the end of the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, which featured the top eight players on the tour — including winner Iga Swiatek.

Beatriz Haddad Maia Defeats Zheng Qinwen to Win WTA Elite Trophy

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Beatriz Haddad Maia has another title under her belt…

The 27-year-old Brazilian professional tennis player has claimed her third career WTA tour title by defeating seventh-seeded Zheng Qinwen 7-6 (11), 7-6 (4) to win the WTA Elite Trophy on Sunday.

Haddad Maia, the eighth seed, needed 2 hours, 51 minutes to edge past Zheng in a tight battle, which ended the top Chinese player’s win streak at eight matches.

The 19th-ranked Haddad Maia maintained her perfect record this week with her fourth consecutive straight-sets victory. Her semifinal win over 17th-ranked Daria Kasatkina followed her opening upset victory over second-seeded Madison Keys and then Caroline Garcia to win the group.

It’s Haddad Maia’s first title on hard courts and first since Birmingham in 2022.

Her performance in Zhuhai was a welcome return to form for the 2023 French Open semifinalist who had only one win in three previous tournaments as part of the tour’s Asia swing.

Zheng, who won the Zhengzhou Open this month and the gold medal at the Asian Games in September, was just the second Chinese player to make the final of the WTA Elite Trophy after Wang Qiang finished runner-up to former world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in 2018.

The 12-player tournament was the first postseason event on the women’s tour. It featured the 11 highest-ranked singles players who did not qualify for next month’s WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico. Zhu Lin, whom Zheng beat in the semifinals, was the final entry as a wild card.

Rebeka Masarova Upsets Maria Sakkari in US Open First Round to Earn First Win Against Top 10 Player

Posted on August 28, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Rebeka Masarova is celebrating an important win…

The 24-year-old Swiss-born Spanish tennis player picked up her first Top 10 win with a 6-4, 6-4 upset victory over Maria Sakkari in the first round of the US Open on Monday.

Masarova, ranked No. 71 in the world, had previously been 0-4 against Top 10 opponents, but took her chances by converting all three break points created to dispatch the No. 8 seed after 87 minutes.

The last time Masarova won an outdoor hard-court match in the main draw of a tour-level event? January 7, when she beat Ysaline Bonaventure to make her maiden WTA final in Auckland. Masarova’s US Open preparation saw her fall in the first round of Cincinnati qualifying before picking up a pair of wins at the WTA 125 in Chicago.

For Sakkari, her 2023 at the majors ends with three straight opening-round exits. One could understand her Roland Garros departure at the hands of eventual finalist Karolina Muchova, who had also won their encounter at the Paris major a year earlier. The same can’t be said for Wimbledon, where she bageled Marta Kostyuk in the first set only to lose 7-5 in a decider. Worth reminding that like Masarova, Kostyuk had never beaten a Top 10 opponent with a 0-14 mark going into that encounter.

Sakkari came into Flushing Meadows at No. 13 in the Race to the WTA Finals. A year after a run to the WTA 1000 Guadalajara title match clinched the final berth to the season finale (held in Fort Worth, Texas), the former world No. 3 will need an even bigger fourth quarter boost to get back to the prestigious year-end event.

Sara Sorribes Tormo Outlasts Ekaterina Alexandrova to Win Tennis in the Land Title

Posted on August 27, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Sara Sorribes Tormo is a lucky loser and winner…

The 26-year-old Spanish professional tennis player, who received a lucky loser berth into the tournament, captured her second career singles title with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over fourth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia at Tennis in the Land on Saturday.

Sorribes Tormo, ranked No. 95 in the world, overcame a 4-2 deficit in the second set and trailed 4-3 in the third before storming back. She broke No. 22 Alexandrova twice to close out each set, finishing the 2-hour, 27-minute match on her fourth match point at the WTA 250 event.

“I knew I was close to losing the match, so I was thinking that I have to find the solution,” she said. “My family always tells me to fight and always stay in the match, and that’s what I tried to do. I know I can run and I used that to my advantage.”

The championship was the final stop on an emotional roller coaster for Sorribes Tormo, who was “almost crying in the players’ lounge” at the Nautica Entertainment Complex after being eliminated in the qualifying round.

When Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania became the sixth player to withdraw from the 32-woman main bracket, she informed Sorribes Tormo that four additional spots were now available. She subsequently picked her own name in the raffle for the first bid.

Sorribes Tormo became the sixth lucky loser in WTA history to win a singles crown. It was her first title since 2021 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“One week ago, I was out of the tournament, and today I am here,” she said, smiling. “Someone told me they call this Believeland. It must be true.”

Alexandrova, the lone seed to advance past the quarterfinals, fired all four aces in the match but was broken in her last three service games. She failed to score a point in one of them and committed two of her 14 double faults in the finale.

“Sara had an amazing week and played an amazing match today,” Alexandrova said. “It was quite an enjoyable week for everyone.”

Anett Kontaveit of Estonia won the inaugural Tennis in the Land title in 2021, and Liudmila Samsonova of Russia was the defending champion. All matches were played outdoors on a hard court, in a temporary downtown stadium, for the first time this year.

Rebeka Masarova Upsets Mayar Sherif to Earn First Victory at Wimbledon

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Rebeka Masarova has earned her first Wimbledon victory…

Playing in only her second tournament at the All England Club, the unseeded 23-year-old Swiss-born Spanish professional tennis player defeated No. 31 seed Mayar Sherif in the first round.

Masarova, currently ranked No. 66 in the world, her highest ranking to date, outlasted Sherif 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (6) in a hard-fought match.

Masarova will next face either Camila Osorio or Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the second round.

Earlier this year, Masarova reached her first WTA final at the Auckland Classic, losing to Coco Gauff 1-6, 1-6.

Carlos Alcaraz Earns No. 1 Seed at Wimbledon

Posted on June 28, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Carlos Alcaraz is heading into the All England Club as the top seed…

The 20-year-old Spanish tennis player, not four-time defending champion Novak Djokovic was seeded No. 1 for Wimbledon on Wednesday, as expected, because the All England Club adhered to the ATP and WTA rankings.

Alcaraz overtook Djokovic atop the men’s standings on Monday. Djokovic hasn’t played since collecting his men’s record 23rd Grand Slam title at the French Open on June 11 and slid to No. 2, while Alcaraz rose one spot after winning a grass-court tuneup tournament at Queen’s Club on Sunday.

Djokovic has won the championship at Wimbledon each of the past four times it was held — and seven times overall — but he did not benefit from a ranking boost in 2022 because the ATP and WTA withheld all points to protest the All England Club’s decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus because of the invasion of Ukraine.

Those athletes are allowed to compete this year, and Russian player Daniil Medvedev is seeded No. 3 in the men’s field.

The draw to set up the singles brackets will be Friday. The tournament begins Monday.

Casper Ruud is No. 4 of the 32 men’s seeds, followed by Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. Nick Kyrgios, the runner-up to Djokovic at Wimbledon a year ago, is seeded 31st.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is ranked 39th and is not seeded.

Swiatek has been ranked No. 1 since April 2022 and owns four Grand Slam titles, most recently at the French Open. She has never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon.

In the women’s field, Iga Swiatek is the No. 1 seed, while Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.

Elena Rybakina, the 2022 women’s champion at the All England Club, is No. 3 among the women’s 32 seeds, followed by Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, two-time champion Petra Kvitova and Barbora Krejcikova.

From 2002 to 2019, the All England Club based its seedings for the men’s draw on a formula that took into account results on grass at Wimbledon and elsewhere. But after that, the tournament opted to simply follow the rankings to determine all seeds.

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