Valentova, 17, wins third straight title - and biggest yet - in Ricany
Tereza Valentova took another leap on her rapid journey into the professional game after winning the biggest title of her career on the ITF World Tennis Tour at W75 Ricany on Sunday.
The 17-year-old Czech wild card defeated Daria Snigur 6-7(4) 6-2 in the final on home hard courts to increase her pro winning streak to 14 successive matches.
Valentova, who reached the girls’ singles final at the US Open last September and the quarter-finals at the Australian Open junior event in 2023, is already beginning to show the potential at pro level that carried her to world No. 5 in the junior game.
As well as her triumph this week, Valentova also won back-to-back titles (without dropping so much as a set) at W15 Monastir in February, defeating China’s Yufei Ren 6-3 6-2 for her first professional title and following with a 6-2 6-1 triumph over world No. 420 Audrey Albie at the same venue a week later.
In Ricany last week, she took things to another level.
Valentova defeated four Top 200 players – including world No. 135 Daria Snigur for the second-best win of her career by ranking.
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Her best, incidentally, came at the same venue last year - when she stunned world No. 132 Laura Pigossi for the loss of five games in the quarter-finals.
Valentova rocketed 162 spots in the WTA rankings on Monday, climbing into the world’s top 400 at No. 395.
Sunday also saw a good win for another rising 17-year-old, with Australia’s Maya Joint building on her recent triumph at W75 Burnie with her second pro title – and first outside her home country - at W35 Santo Domingo.
Meanwhile, Lucija Ciric Bagaric celebrated her fourth title of the year on the ITF World Tennis Tour after she won at W35 Alaminos-Larnaca in Cyprus.
The 20-year-old dropped only her third and fourth sets of the year in her opening two rounds, but again displayed her remarkable fighting spirit to battle to victory and extend her remarkable winning streak in 2024 to 23 matches.
She edges closer to the WTA Top 200 as a result, climbing to a career-high No. 207 on Monday.
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