Tennis News

BOGOTA, Colombia – No.5 seed Irina Falconi captured her first WTA title in historic fashion, becoming the first American woman to win the Claro Open Colsanitas as she recovered from a break down in the final set to defeat Sílvia Soler-Espinosa, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Playing in her first career WTA final, Falconi had already earned the biggest win over the week when she took out No.4 seed Lara Arruabarrena in the semifinals, and looked on course for a seamless victory when she took the first set. But Soler-Espinosa, who had only won one WTA main draw match before Bogota, wouldn’t go down without a fight, leveling the match with a 6-2 set of her own and engineering an early break in the decider.

Six points from defeat down 3-4, 0-30, Falconi earned the break back and broke serve to win the title on her third championship point.

Starting the week at No.92, Falconi is tentatively set to return to the Top 70, close to her career-high ranking of No.64.

More to come…

STUTTGART, Germany – Petra Kvitova made a flawless start to her clay court campaign, dismissing Louisa Chirico in 55 one-sided minutes to secure a spot in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

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In recent years, Stuttgart has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for Kvitova, who has stumbled at the first hurdle on her past two visits. This time, though, she delivered a near-perfect performance, dishing out a 6-0, 6-0 defeat to set up a meeting with Monica Niculescu or Caroline Garcia.

A display decorated with 29 winners – and offset by just 11 unforced errors – began with a salvo of thumping groundstrokes and a quick-fire hold. In the next game the No.5 seed displayed the other side of her game, a beautifully disguised drop shot leaving Chirico wrong-footed and an immediate break behind.

Chirico came close to getting on the scoreboard on several occasions, but each time she threatened to do so, Kvitova found the perfect response. The final stand came at 3-0 in the second set, Kvitova having the final say in a 10-minute game Kvitova thanks to another delightful touch around the net.

Moments later she put the American out of her misery, skipping around a second serve to unleash one final winner.

More to follow…