Begu crowned champion at inaugural W100 tournament in Cairo
Irina-Camelia Begu lifted the first $100k-level tournament to take place in Egypt on the ITF World Tennis Tour after overcoming fourth-seeded Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko in a three-set contest in Sunday’s W100 Cairo final.
The former world No. 22 defeated Tsurenko 6-4 3-6 6-2 to collect her first title at any level since she won the WTA title in Bucharest in 2017, and her first on the ITF World Tennis Tour since she won at W100 Contrexeville in 2014.
Begu’s win over Tsurenko capped a hard-fought week in the Egyptian capital in which she had gone the distance in four of her five matches.
Her second-round win over 14-year-old Czech Linda Fruhvirtova proved to be the only routine triumph in an otherwise testing week for the third-seeded Romanian, which also took in deciding set triumphs over Marta Kostyuk, Anastasia Gasanova and Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov.
The title was Begu’s 12th at ITF level, and the 16th professional title of her career overall.
Hosts Egypt, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on a home grown triumph in the doubles after Maiar Sherif, partnering Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus, fell to Serbian-Polish duo Aleksandra Krunic and Katarzyna Piter 6-4 6-2 in the doubles final.