Bucsa sweeps singles and doubles titles at WTA 125 Limoges

In the final WTA 125 tournament of the 2023 season, Spain's Cristina Bucsa swept the singles and doubles titles at the Open BLS de Limoges in Limoges, France on Sunday.

Bucsa started the day with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over French hope Elsa Jacquemot in the singles final. No.5 seed Bucsa, ranked World No.82 in singles, took 1 hour and 48 minutes to outlast 235th-ranked Jacquemot and win her first career WTA 125 singles title.

Less than an hour later, Bucsa headed back to the center court for the doubles final, where she and Yana Sizikova upset No.2 seeds Oksana Kalashnikova and Maia Lumsden 6-4, 6-1 to claim the title.

The 25-year-old Bucsa had not dropped a set on her way to the Limoges singles final, but she did have a tricky quarterfinal against 20-year-old wild card Lois Boisson on Friday.

In that match, France's Boisson led 5-0 in the first set before Bucsa fended off three set points and took it in a tiebreak. Bucsa eventually won that match 7-6(3), 6-2.

Another 20-year-old Frenchwoman was Bucsa's opponent in Sunday's final, and this time, Jacquemot was able to build a 4-0 advantage and hold on for the one-set lead. Jacquemot won 88 percent of her first-serve points in the first set, where she also never faced break point.

But it was Bucsa who was commanding in the second set, where she fired a forehand winner down the line to lead 3-0. From there, Bucsa cruised through the rest of the second set, where she never faced break point.

In the third set, Jacquemot hit consecutive double faults to drop serve in the opening game. Extending points with superb speed, Bucsa built on that momentum, breaking Jacquemot at love for 5-2.

Serving for the title, Bucsa came back from 0-30 down and carved a backhand to force a netted error from Jacquemot on the Spaniard's first championship point. Bucsa will move up to a new career-high singles ranking of No.61 on Monday.

In the doubles final, Bucsa and Sizikova broke their opponents seven times en route to the 68-minute win. The champions were twice down an early break at both 2-0 and 3-1 in the opening set, but they notched 11 of the next 13 games to attain victory.

Bucsa has now won four WTA 125 doubles titles in her career -- all of which have come in the last 13 months, and alongside four different partners.

It is the second WTA 125 doubles title of Sizikova's career, with her previous one coming at Colina, Chile last November with Aldila Sutjiadi.