No. 1 seed Emma Navarro of the United States put a comprehensive capper on her dominant week at the WTA 500 Merida Open Akron with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango in Sunday's final.
Merida: Draws | Scores | Order of Play
Top-seeded at a WTA tournament for the first time in her career, World No. 10 Navarro was nearly flawless all week as she captured her second and biggest title without dropping a set. Navarro hoisted her maiden trophy at WTA 250 Hobart last year.
Five 6-0, 6-0 finals this century: Navarro becomes the first player to win a WTA final 6-0, 6-0 since Iga Swiatek defeated Karolina Pliskova by that scoreline in the 2021 Rome final.
The other finals to feature that scoreline since the year 2000 are: 2006 Quebec City (Marion Bartoli d. Olga Puchkova), 2013 Sydney (Agnieszka Radwanska d. Dominika Cibulkova) and 2016 Bucharest (Simona Halep d. Anastasija Sevastova).
Back in the winner's circle: Until this week, Navarro had not reached a final since her 2024 Hobart triumph over a year ago. But the American has steadily cemented her spot at the top of the game, reaching the quarterfinals or better at the last three majors.
Navarro exhibited that exceptional form in her 55-minute win over 133rd-ranked Arango, who had advanced past the quarterfinals of a WTA event for the first time in her career and will still be rewarded with a Top 100 debut on Monday.
Arango was riding an 11-match winning streak at all levels coming into Sunday's final, but she was pushed to three sets in her last three matches. That sterling form was finally exhausted by Navarro, who was stingy on serve and never allowed the qualifier to reach break point.
Navarro's combination of piercing groundstrokes and sturdy defense was peaking on Sunday, especially when returning serve. The top seed won 71 percent of points on return, leading to a 6-for-10 break point conversion rate in the final.
Navarro won the first set by clipping the sideline with a backhand -- a shot Arango brought to the challenge system to settle. That attempt was to no avail for the Colombian.
In the second set, Arango erased two championship points in the final game of the day, but Navarro forced an error long on her third opportunity to take home the trophy.
Unseeded pair takes doubles title: Earlier on Sunday, there was an upset in the Merida Open Akron doubles final, where unseeded Katarzyna Piter and Mayar Sherif beat No. 1 seeds Anna Danilina and Irina Khromacheva 7-6(2), 7-5.
Piter and Sherif came back from a late break down to squeak out the first set, then they won the final three games of the match to grab the title after 1 hour and 51 minutes of play.
This is the second WTA doubles title for Egypt's Sherif, and the fourth for Piter of Poland.
