Osorio rediscovers her love of the game with second Bogota title

Camila Osorio came through on home soil once in Colombia again, toppling No.1 seed Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 7-6(5) in the final of the Copa Colsanitas Zurich to capture her second Bogota title. Osorio won her first Hologic WTA Tour title in Bogota in 2021.

Ranked No.85 and seeded No.6, Osorio enjoyed a resurgent week in Bogota. It's been a slow start to 2024 for the Colombian star. She came into her home event looking to win back-to-back matches for the first time this season. She went on to lose just one set en route to the title.

"I've been struggling a lot the last few years with injuries and other things," Osorio told WTA Insider. "But now that I get my second title, it's just an amazing feeling for me, a relief also.

"I know I need to keep working harder. There are other things I still want to do in tennis."

In addition to stopping the top seed on Sunday, the 22-year-old from Cucuta also ended No.2 seed and two-time defending champion Tatjana Maria's 14-match Bogota win streak in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she knocked out Sara Errani in straight sets. 

"Everything clicked after the match against Tatjana," Osorio said, "because she beat me in Australia and she was the champion before and she beat me 6-1 in the first set.

"The Colombian fans helped me throughout the whole week. They were always pulling me up, giving me positive vibes."

Ever since she became the first Colombian to win the US Open girls' title in 2019, the national spotlight has been a gift and curse for Osario throughout her career. Two years later, when she stunned the field in Bogota to win the title as a 180th-ranked wild card, Osario's renown as a national hero continued to soar. 

While she quietly struggled with injuries, her ranking began to dip. After reaching a career-high No.33 in 2022, she finished the last two seasons hovering around No.80. As she's worked to put her injuries behind her, Osario has been working to inject more aggression into her game. That worked paid off this week in Bogota's altitude, where Osario was more than happy to play the role of the aggressor.

"I remember three years ago I won this title, but I was just running around the court and I wasn't really doing anything with my shots," Osorio said. "I worked a lot on my conditioning and when I became a little bit stronger, I try to generate a little more with my shots with my forehand. I try to hit as many forehands as possible."

Osorio came into Sunday's final looking for her first career win over No.42 Bouzkova. She had yet to win more than 4 games in a match vs. the grinding Czech. Bouzkova was also playing her first final of the season, having booked her spot with wins over Rebecca Marino, Hailey Baptiste, Laura Siegemund and Kamilla Rakhimova. 

With the capacity crowd firmly rooted in her corner, Osorio rebounded from an early break to ease through the first set. She extended that lead to a set and a break at 2-0 in the second before Bouzkova worked her way back.

After a soft service game from Bouzkova handed Osorio the break and a chance to serve out the win at 6-5, the Czech engineered a gritty, scampering match-point save to stay in the match and converted her fourth break point to force a tiebreak.

In the tiebreak, a backhand miss from Bouzkova gave Osorio Championship Points at 6-4. After a nervous double fault on the first, Osorio used her baseline power to drag Bouzkova corner to corner on Championship Point No.3 and sealed the win after 1 hour and 55 minutes.

Osorio finished the match with 26 winners to 27 unforced errors. Bouzkova hit 16 winners to 25 unforced errors.

"This week I was just enjoying being here, being able to play at home," Osorio said. "Two years ago I wanted to win but I felt so much pressure because I wanted to do well and I did well the week before in Monterrey.

"This time it was different. I enjoyed tennis again."