MERIDA, Mexico (Reuters) – Top seed Emma Navarro made light work of Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango with a crushing 6-0 6-0 victory in the final of the Merida Open on Sunday as the American claimed her second career title. World number 10 Navarro, who won the WTA 250 Hobart International last year, needed just 55 […]
Sports
Tennis-Navarro outclasses Arango with ‘double-bagel’ to claim Merida Open title
Audio By Carbonatix
MERIDA, Mexico (Reuters) – Top seed Emma Navarro made light work of Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango with a crushing 6-0 6-0 victory in the final of the Merida Open on Sunday as the American claimed her second career title.
World number 10 Navarro, who won the WTA 250 Hobart International last year, needed just 55 minutes to lift her first WTA 500 trophy, wrapping up a dominant run in the tournament in which she didn’t a set.
With a strong serve and powerful groundstrokes, Navarro never allowed Arango to reach a break point, while the U.S. Open semi-finalist won 71 percent of points on return.
The 23-year-old became only the fifth player this century to win a WTA final with a 6-0 6-0 scoreline, and the first since Iga Swiatek’s victory over Karolina Pliskova in the 2021 Italian Open.
Arango, who will reach a career-high singles world ranking of 80 on Monday, could not find her stride following a nearly three-hour semi-final battle against fellow qualifier Daria Saville late on Saturday.
The Colombian world number 133 reached Sunday’s final on the back of an 11-match winning streak, including last week’s winning run at the WTA 125 Cancun Open, but had to play three sets in each of her last three matches.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Neil Fullick)