Camila Giorgi won the maiden edition of the Merida Open in Mexico on Sunday. The Italian defeated Rebecca Peterson 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-2 after nearly two hours and 30 minutes of play.
The match had significant momentum shifts from the first set right up to the decider.
Merida Open: Camila Giorgi wows until the end
In the opening set, Giorgi handed a break to her Swedish opponent in the seventh game with the latter serving for the set in the 10th game. A break back, however, gave Giorgi the chance to extend the set. In the 12th game, Giorgi had a set point of her own on Peterson’s serve but she saved it to push the set into the tie-break. The tie-break went in Giorgi’s favour and she took the lead in the match.
Peterson stormed back into the match in the second set all the way to clinching it and levelling the match. It was the first time that Giorgi lost a set in the WTA 250 event this week. In the last set, Peterson once again went ahead and thanks to an early break led 2-0 before Giorgi began her successful comeback. As it turned out, the 31-year-old won six games in a row to put herself through on the winner’s podium.
Giorgi finished the match with 40 winners, 28 more than Peterson’s 22. Giorgi won 67% of her first-serve points to Peterson’s 69%. She won 48% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 37%. Both players dropped their serve four times across the match. But Giorgi saved eight break points of the 12 she faced while Peterson saved four break points. For the match, only two points separated Giorgi and Peterson. Peterson won 88 points to Giorgi’s 90.
The Merida Open’s Camila Giorgi’s first title in almost two years coming after her heroics at the 2021 Montreal Open. Meanwhile, Rebecca Peterson lost a final of a WTA final for the first time in her career. The previous two times she’d made it this far, she’d gone all the way to winning the tournaments.
Photo Credit: Merida Open Twitter