Merida Open: Sonmez beats Li to win first career title
Sonmez defeated American Ann Li in straight sets in Sunday’s final
Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez won the WTA Merida Open title by defeating American Ann Li 6-2, 6-1 at the Yucatan Country Club on Sunday.
This is the first WTA singles title for Sonmez, who had never been to a WTA Tour-level quarter-final prior to this week. Sonmez also becomes the first Turkish player in over eight years to win a WTA singles title (Cagla Buyukakcay won the Istanbul title in 2016).
Both players had completed their semi-final victories earlier in the day due to rain causing the rescheduling of Saturday’s semi-finals.
In the previous rounds of the tournament, Sonmez, ranked No 127, beat Argentinian Maria Lourdes Carle, the No 6 seed (5-7, 6-1, 6-2), Frenchwoman Elsa Jacquemot (7-6 (3), 6-3), Mexican Renata Zarazua, the top seed (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) and Russian Alina Korneeva (7-6 (5), 6-2).
Li, ranked No 111, defeated Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz, the No 8 seed (6-0, 6-4), Croat Antonia Ruzic (6-2, 6-2), Swiss Jil Teichmann (6-1, 6-1) and Russian Polina Kudermetova (6-3, 4-6, 6-2) earlier in the week.