Saturday, May 24, 2014

Puig and Bouchard win first titles

Two WTA players won their first tour titles today. Monica Puig picked up the trophy (and the check, and some flowers, and something wrapped in a box, and a jeroboam of wine) in Strasbourg when she defeated qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-4, 6-3 in the final. All respect to the Spaniard--it was her eighth match in eight consecutive days, and she had to be tired. Puig, on the other hand, didn't break a sweat, and looked completely confident from the moment she stepped onto the court right until she converted match point.

2nd seeds Ashleigh Barty and Case Dellacqua won the doubles title. They defeated Tatiana Bua and Daniela Seguel 4-6, 7-5. 10-4 in the final.

In Nurnberg, the winner's trophy went to 2nd seed Genie Bouchard. Bouchard defeated Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a topsy-turvy match. There were five breaks of serve in the final set, and the outcome was a mystery almost to the last moment.

Pliskova did win a title, however. She and partner Michaella Krajicek defeated Raluca Olaru and Shahar Peer 6-0, 4-6, 10-6 in the final.

So far, it's been quite a year for the winning of first titles, with Tsvetana Pironkova's Sydney victory being the most dramatic (and I think we'll say that when the year is over, too, because it will be very hard to top what she did). Still no title for Peng Shuai, though. Oh, and no title for Sloane Stephens, either.

Everyone who isn't already in Paris heads to Paris now. The French Open qualifying event has been completed, and here are the qualifiers:

Grace Min
Heather Watson
Maryna Zanevska
Yuliya Beygelzimer
Danka Kovinic
Aleksandra Wozniak
Kiki Bertens
Ksenia Pervak
Timea Bacsinszky
Sofia Shapatava
Michelle Larcher De Brito
Tamira Paszek

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