Mother-of-two Maria outlasts Pigossi in Bogota for second career title

An all-qualifier final at the Copa Colsanitas presentado por Zurich saw Tatjana Maria collect her second career WTA title 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 over Laura Pigossi in 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Maria is the first mother-of-two this century to lift a WTA trophy. She gave birth to her her first daughter Charlotte in 2013, second daughter Cecilia just over a year ago in April 2021, and returned to action following her second maternity leave last August. The 34-year-old German had delivered her career-best results as a mother, reaching her career-high ranking of No.46 in 2017 and winning her previous title at Mallorca 2018.

The No.237-ranked Maria now owns a 21-7 record this season, and is the lowest-ranked WTA titlist since No.299 Margarita Gasparyan became the 2018 Tashkent champion.

The Bogota final was the first Hologic WTA Tour title match between two qualifiers since Lyon last year, where Clara Tauson defeated Viktorija Golubic, and the first ever between players ranked beneath 200. Pigossi, the World No.212, had not won a WTA main-draw match in two previous attempts before this week.

Keys to the match: Both players had reached the final with superb defensive skills, albeit still contrasting, and the title match pitted Maria's knifing slices off both wings against Pigossi's topspin-loaded consistency.

The Brazilian was less bothered by Maria's slices than previous opponents had been, and took on the more aggressive role throughout. Aiming to dominate with her forehand, Pigossi landed 23 winners to Maria's 19 overall.

But Maria was stingier with the unforced errors, keeping her count to 13 - only two in the first set and four in the third - while Pigossi tallied 30. Maria's powerful serve, somewhat incongruous with the delicacy of her ground game, was also crucial. She won 78% of her first serve points, including six aces, and a dip in her first serve percentage to 52% contributed to the loss of the second set.

Pigossi seemed to have taken the momentum from grinding out the second set into the decider when she emerged on top of a seven-deuce opening game, but subsequently Maria's finesse came through when she needed it. Essaying fine dropshots and touch volleys, Maria responded by sweeping six of the last seven games

Sharma, Sutjiadi claim doubles title

In an all-unseeded doubles final, Astra Sharma and Aldila Sutjiadi triumphed 4-6, 6-4, [11-9] over Emina Bektas and Tara Moore to take their first title together.

Australia's Sharma reclaimed a trophy she had previously won in 2019 alongside Zoe Hives, and tallied her third doubles title overall. Sutjiadi became the first Indonesian to lift a WTA trophy in either discipline since Angelique Widjaja won the 2003 Bali doubles title alongside Maria Vento-Kabchi.

American Bektas and Briton Moore had previously won six ITF titles together, but were contesting their first WTA final as a team - the first ever married couple to do so.