Pigossi captures WTA 125 Buenos Aires title

No.5 seed Laura Pigossi of Brazil took home the WTA 125 IEB+ Argentina Open title with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No.8 seed Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina in Sunday's final. It is the first WTA 125 title of Pigossi's career.

World No.137 Pigossi took 1 hour and 32 minutes to topple 175th-ranked Carle on the Argentine's home soil. Pigossi is now 3-0 against Carle in their head-to-head, with all three of the Brazilian's victories coming in straight sets.

Pigossi adds her highest-level career singles title to her list of accomplishments. The 29-year-old was a Hologic WTA Tour singles finalist at 2022 Bogota, and she won an Olympic bronze medal in women's doubles alongside Luisa Stefani at Tokyo 2021.

Pigossi, who reached a career-high ranking of No.100 in August of 2022, was pushed to three sets in three of her four matches en route to this week's final. In Saturday's semifinal, she was pulled into a third-set tiebreak before edging past No.6 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico.

In Sunday's championship match, the first four games went against serve before Pigossi took control by firing a forehand winner down the line to break for a 5-3 lead. Carle sent a forehand wide on Pigossi's first set point to cede the opening frame to the Brazilian.

In the second set, Pigossi fended off five break points in a grueling hold for 3-1. The Brazilian moved to victory from there, converting her first championship point with a passing winner.

Crucially, Pigossi won 77 percent of her second-serve points in the final, while Carle won only 25 percent of points behind her own second service. Pigossi also converted six of her nine break points in the showdown.

The singles final was only the beginning of a very busy and ultimately triumphant Sunday for Carle. After losing in the singles final, Carle came back on court and won a delayed doubles semifinal alongside Despina Papamichail. They beat No.1 seeds Diane Parry and Valeriya Strakhova 6-2, 6-2. 

Shortly after that, Carle and Papamichail won the doubles final, which was Carle's third match of the day. Carle and Papamichail claimed the IEB+ Argentina Open doubles title with a 6-3, 4-6, [11-9] defeat of Maria Paulina Perez Garcia and Sofia Sewing.

Carle and Papamichail had previously been the doubles runners-up at Buenos Aires in 2021. This is Carle's first WTA 125 doubles title, and Papamichail's second. Papamichail won WTA 125 Barranquilla earlier this year alongside her fellow Greek Valentini Grammatikopoulou.