Paris (AFP)
French Fiona Ferro beat Estonian Anett Kontaveit on Sunday to win the Palermo tennis tournament, the first event on the WTA circuit after a five-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Following a first round one-way and a second set more hooked, Ferro, N.53 world won 6-2, 7-5 against Kontaveit, 22nd in the hierarchy.
On Sicilian clay, the 23-year-old Frenchwoman broke her opponent from the start and then again took the opposing service at 4-2 to quietly afford the first set in 40 minutes of play.
The second set was more uncertain, each player leaving several times her serve to her opponent. Fiona Ferro definitely took the upper hand at 5-5, breaking and then winning her serve to claim the title.
This is the second trophy in two finals on the WTA circuit for Fiona Ferro, winner of the Lausanne tournament in 2019, already on clay. She will enter the top 50 of the world rankings on Monday for the first time in her young career.
Kontaveit confirms her difficulties in the final: it is her fourth loss in five matches at this stage of the competition, now three in a row. His only title dates back to June 2017, in 's-Hertogenbosch.
This defeat is all the more frustrating for the Estonian as she easily dismissed the N.1 seed of the Italian tournament on Saturday in the semi-final, the Croatian Petra Martic (world N.15).
The WTA circuit continues on Monday with the tournament in Prague (Czech Republic), also on clay, and that of Lexington (United States), on hard, the first American entry on the calendar after the resumption, three weeks before the US Open, scheduled from August 31 to September 13 despite the heavy toll the United States is currently paying to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the packages which are multiplying.
© 2020 AFP