This week witnessed top-seeded players dominating the WTA 125 singles competitions.
At the WTA 125 Puerto Vallarta Open in Mexico, Jaqueline Cristian of Romania, the No. 1 seed, clinched the title by defeating Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic in straight sets (7-5, 6-4) in the hard-court final on Sunday.
Despite the straight-set victory, Cristian battled for 2 hours and 12 minutes against the 19-year-old Fruhvirtova, who recently reached the third round of the Miami Open as a qualifier.
Cristian, aged 26 and ranked World No. 72, also had a strong showing at Indian Wells earlier this month, reaching the third round. She has won eight of her last 10 matches and is set to equal her career-high ranking of No. 57 on Monday.
In the Puerto Vallarta Open doubles final, the American team of Hanna Chang and Christina McHale defeated Maya Joint and Ena Shibahara 2-6, 6-2, [10-7]. McHale, a former Top 25 player, recently returned to professional tennis after a two-year break.
Earlier on Sunday, Olga Danilovic of Serbia, the top seed, won the singles title at the WTA 125 Megasaray Hotels Open in Antalya, Turkey. Danilovic defeated Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra 6-2, 6-3 in the clay-court final.
Danilovic, 24, is expected to reach a new career-high ranking of No. 35 on Monday after her impressive performance in the second of three Antalya WTA 125 events held over three weeks. Anca Todoni won the previous week`s tournament in Antalya.
Throughout this week`s tournament, Danilovic consistently won her sets decisively, culminating in a 94-minute victory in the final. She now holds two WTA 125 singles titles, matching her two WTA 250 singles titles.
The Antalya doubles title this week was claimed by Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina and Simona Waltert of Switzerland, who overcame Maja Chwalinska and Anastasia Detiuc 3-6, 7-5, [10-3] in the Saturday final. Chwalinska and Detiuc were the doubles champions at the previous Antalya event.
