Podoroska triumphs in all-Argentine final to win Cali 125 title

At the first WTA 125 event of the 2023 season, Nadia Podoroska defeated Paula Ormaechea 6-4, 6-2 in an all-Argentine final on Sunday to win the Copa Oster in Cali, Colombia.

Podoroska, a former Top 40 player and 2020 Roland Garros semifinalist, took 1 hour and 29 minutes to topple her compatriot in the clay-court clash and capture the first WTA 125 title of her career.

Podoroska started the week off with a key win, dismissing No.1 seed Reka-Luca Jani 6-0, 6-2 in the opening round. After taking out the top seed right away, Podoroska barely wavered, dropping only a single set in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Ormaechea knocked out high seeds in the bottom half of the draw, where she defeated No.3 seed Aliona Bolsova and No.2 seed Laura Pigossi on her way to the final.

In the final, five of the first six games went against serve, but Podoroska began chipping away at points with heavy forehands, and she earned a 5-2 lead. But Podoroska was broken while serving for the set at 5-3, with Ormaechea ending that game with a backhand winner.

However, Podoroska came out on top in a number of rallies in the next game, forcing Ormaechea into errors and breaking for the one-set lead. Podoroska had a more straightforward second set, where she never lost serve and racked up the last four games.

Podoroska won 62 percent of points returning the Ormaechea second service during the encounter, and the champion converted six of her 10 break points.

On Saturday, the doubles final went down to the wire, and it was No.2 seeds Weronika Falkowska and Katarzyna Kawa who edged Kyoka Okamura and You Xiaodi 6-1, 5-7, [10-6] in 1 hour and 39 minutes to take the Copa Oster title.

Okamura and You saved two championship points at 5-4 in the second set, then reeled off three games in a row to eke out the second set and force Falkowska and Kawa into a decisive match-tiebreak.

From 6-5 down in the closely-contested match-tiebreak, the all-Polish pair of Falkowska and Kawa won the last five points in succession to claim the title. It is the second career WTA 125 doubles title for both Falkowska and Kawa, but their first as a team.