Top-seeded Dominika Cibulkova won the Abierto Telcel Mexicano over Christina McHale of the US, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. This was Cibulkova’s fourth career title. She was the runner-up in this year’s Australian Open to eventual winner, Li Na.
Her opponent, Christina McHale, was the surprise finalist. The #70 ranked 21-year-old American made a strong showing in her first WTA final. She has a career-high ranking of 24, and will surely see her ranking go up after this tournament.
Acapulco, a combined women’s and men’s event, saw a surface change this year. After 20 years as a clay court tournament, it was contested for the first time this year on hard courts. This makes it a good tune-up event to Indian Wells, also a co-ed event, and one of the premier events on both tours. The surface change for Acapulco has been seen as a boon for the event.
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In other WTA news, Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic won her third WTA singles title by defeating Garbine Muguruza of Spain 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 in the Brazil Cup final on Saturday. The Spaniard was leading 6-4, 5-2 and serving for the match when her game fell apart. The 32-year-old Zakopalova won 11 straight games to close out the match.
Zakopalova was playing in her third final this year, with only her first win since 2005.
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): NAPARAZZI