Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania notched another clay-court success this past week, clinching the WTA 125 Montreux Nestle Open title in Montreux, Switzerland on Sunday.
No.7 seed Begu needed to mount a comeback to prevail in the final, overcoming Croatian teenager Petra Marcinko 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 in 1 hour and 33 minutes. It is Begu's third career WTA 125 singles title, to go along with her five WTA 250 titles on the Hologic WTA Tour.
Former World No.22 Begu has posted a 23-9 record on clay this season, spanning all levels. Among her other highlights on the surface this year are the Palermo semifinals, the Round of 16 in Rome, and another WTA 125 final in Antalya.
Another highlight for Begu was taking the traditional dive into the nearby lake after capturing the trophy:
"[The water] was actually really good," Begu said after her dive. "I didn't expect it, so it was really good."
Begu's affinity for clay has shown up in her career-best results at top-tier tour events. She reached the WTA 1000 Rome semifinals in 2016 and she is a three-time WTA 1000 Madrid quarterfinalist, including just last year.
Begu lost no more than three games in any set en route to this week's final. But she dropped the first set to Marcinko, a recent Junior World No.1 who won the 2022 Junior Australian Open title. However, Begu won 62 percent of Marcinko's first-service points in the final set.
In Saturday's doubles final, No.2 seeds Quinn Gleason of the United States and Ingrid Martins of Brazil eked out a 6-3, 4-6, [10-7] victory over unseeded Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina and Simona Waltert of Switzerland in 1 hour and 44 minutes.
It is Gleason's second WTA 125 doubles title, having previously won at 2023 Ljubljana with Amina Anshba. It is also Martins' second WTA 125 doubles title, following her triumph at 2022 Montevideo with Luisa Stefani (Gleason was one of the players Martins beat in that final).
