In pictures: The story of Istanbul 2020
From Sara Sorribes Tormo's sportsmanship to Eugenie Bouchard's epics and mother-of-one Patricia Maria Tig's claiming her first WTA title, all the best photos from the TEB BNP Paribas Tennis Championships Istanbul.
01
/45
2018 Moscow River Cup champion Olga Danilovic dispatched Laura Ioana Paar and Dejana Radanovic to qualify for her first WTA main draw since Rabat 2019.
Gökhan Taner
02
/45
No.8 qualifying seed Leonie Kung turned her first-round qualifying match around from a set down, beating Giulia Gatto-Monticone 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3.
Gökhan Taner
03
/45
In an all-Australian derby in the first round of qualifying, Arina Rodionova gives the thumbs up to compatriot Ellen Perez.
Gökhan Taner
04
/45
However, Perez saved three set points in the second set to squeeze past Rodionova in two tiebreaks - Perez's first win over her countrywoman in four attempts.
Gökhan Taner
05
/45
No.7 qualifying seed Harriet Dart needed three sets to get past 2017 Istanbul quarterfinalist Basak Eraydin, but fell to Ellen Perez in the final round of qualifying.
Gökhan Taner
06
/45
Former World No.5 Eugenie Bouchard, now ranked World No.272, needed a wildcard to enter qualifying - but slid past Prague 125K semifinalist Ivana Jorovic and Hua Hin runner-up Leonie Kung without dropping a set.
Gökhan Taner
07
/45
Tereza Martincova had lost to Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the final round of Australian Open qualifying in January, but avenged that result in a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 epic in the final round of qualifying in Istanbul.
Gökhan Taner
08
/45
Rising 19-year-old Kaja Juvan kicked off main-draw action by playing her part in one of the best matches of the week, a cerebral first-round three-setter against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
Gökhan Taner
09
/45
However, former World No.26 Schmiedlova survived a surging Juvan in the second set to squeeze past the teenager 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.
Gökhan Taner
10
/45
No.5 seed Heather Watson was forced to retire due to dizziness after five games against Sara Sorribes Tormo, who showed sportsmanship in carrying the Briton's racquet bag off court for her.
Gökhan Taner
11
/45
Jasmine Paolini came from a break down in the third set to defeat Stefanie Voegele 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round.
Gökhan Taner
12
/45
No.7 seed Zarina Diyas, seeking her first victory since the Tour's resumption, raced out to a 6-3, 5-2 lead over Aliaksandra Sasnovich and held two match points, once each both times the Kazakh served for the win.
Gökhan Taner
13
/45
Sasnovich has gotten used to Houdini acts, though; having saved a match point to defeat Francesca Di Lorenzo at the US Open last week, the Belarusian staved off both en route to a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 turnaround against Diyas.
Gökhan Taner
14
/45
Patricia Maria Tig, one of six mothers who won a round at the US Open last week, plays with daughter Sofia ahead of her first-round clash with Olga Danilovic.
Gökhan Taner
15
/45
Danilovic, bidding for her second Top 100 win of the year, pegged Tig back from 3-5 to 5-5 in the second set, but fell 6-3, 7-5.
Gökhan Taner
16
/45
No.6 seed Alison Van Uytvanck posted her first win since the Tour's return over Viktoria Kuzmova in straight sets, facing only one break point across the entire match.
Gökhan Taner
17
/45
Trailing Ellen Perez by a set and 4-5 in the first round, No.8 seed Misaki Doi rattled off 12 of the next 13 points to level the match before dominating the decider for a 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-1 win.
Gökhan Taner
18
/45
Two-time WTA titlist Margarita Gasparyan conceded just two games to local wildcard Pemra Ozgen in the first round.
Gökhan Taner
19
/45
Another wildcard, Cagla Buyukakcay - the only former champion in Istanbul in the draw, having become the first Turkish player to win a WTA title in 2016 - pushed No.4 seed Caroline Garcia all the way in an evening thriller.
Gökhan Taner
20
/45
Garcia - fresh from a US Open upset of top seed Karolina Pliskova - suffered a second-set whitewash and found her 5-3 third-set lead pegged back to 5-5, but ultimately survived a two-and-a-half hour battle to quell Buyukakcay 6-4, 0-6, 7-5.
Gökhan Taner
21
/45
In the second round, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova faced Aliaksandra Sasnovich, whom she had only beaten once in five previous encounters - but went up a set and a break.
Gökhan Taner
22
/45
Yet again, though, Sasnovich pulled off a remarkable turnaround, winning 12 of the last 17 games in a two-hour-and-53-minute marathon to defeat Schmiedlova 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3.
Gökhan Taner
23
/45
No.3 seed Polona Hercog, runner-up in Istanbul in 2018, made her way into her first WTA quarterfinal since winning Lugano in 2019 with a narrow straight-sets victory over Jasmine Paolini.
Gökhan Taner
24
/45
Former Roland Garros junior champion Paula Badosa took the honors in an all-Spanish second-round derby over Sara Sorribes Tormo to make her fourth career WTA quarterfinal.
Gökhan Taner
25
/45
Danka Kovinic, a finalist in Istanbul in 2016, rose in Turkey again, upsetting No.6 seed Alison Van Uytvanck in straight sets to reach the last eight.
Gökhan Taner
26
/45
Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, competing for the first time since reaching the Doha semifinals in February, was embroiled in a wildly fluctuating second-round marathon against Eugenie Bouchard, a clash of former Top 5 players.
Gökhan Taner
27
/45
Bouchard led by a set and 4-1 and held three match points at 5-4, which Kuznetsova saved to force a decider - only for the Canadian to win the first 13 points of the third set en route to a rollercoaster 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-2 win.
Gökhan Taner
28
/45
Patricia Maria Tig, already a semifinalist in Hua Hin this season, dropped just two games to Misaki Doi to reach the last eight.
Gökhan Taner
29
/45
Tereza Martincova had already scored one win over Caroline Garcia at Gstaad 2017, and the Czech closed out Thursday's play by sealing her fourth career WTA quarterfinal with another upset of the Frenchwoman, a 6-1, 6-4 rout.
Gökhan Taner
30
/45
Bidding for her first WTA semifinal since Tianjin 2016, former World No.46 Danka Kovinic led by a set and a break over Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals.
Gökhan Taner
31
/45
A day after her Kuznetsova marathon, Bouchard still had the stamina for an even longer three-hour, three-minute comeback over Kovinic, winning 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to take her on-court time this week so far to 11 hours and one minute.
Gökhan Taner
32
/45
In the second quarterfinal, Polona Hercog also advanced to a set and a break lead over Paula Badosa - but this match would also find both players embroiled in a fiercely contested epic.
Gökhan Taner
33
/45
A tense deciding set between Badosa and Hercog saw nine consecutive breaks of serve before, in a plot twist, Badosa served it out to love to seal a place in her second WTA semifinal.
Gökhan Taner
34
/45
When Tereza Martincova lost her second-set double-break lead, another marathon - and a third straight comeback for Aliaksandra Sasnovich - loomed, but the Czech qualifier held firm to close out a 6-2, 6-3 win.
Gökhan Taner
35
/45
Patricia Maria Tig became the only player to reach the semifinals without dropping a set after the two-time WTA finalist upset No.2 seed Rebecca Peterson 6-3, 6-1 in the last quarterfinal.
Gökhan Taner
36
/45
In the semifinals, Paula Badosa got off to a flying start, winning the first eight points of the match against Eugenie Bouchard.
Gökhan Taner
37
/45
However, Bouchard roared back to a straight-sets win over Badosa, saving six out of seven break points and avoiding a third straight marathon.
Gökhan Taner
38
/45
The second semifinal found Tereza Martincova and Patricia Maria Tig embroiled in a fiery contest in which neither player was afraid to make her feelings known.
Gökhan Taner
39
/45
Ultimately, it was Tig - who said afterwards she had drawn "great energy" from being reunited with daughter Sofia this week - who demonstrated superior courtcraft to move into her third final, 6-3, 6-3 over Martincova.
Gökhan Taner
40
/45
The doubles title went to top-seeded Chilean-American duo Alexa Guarachi and Desirae Krawczyk, who routed second seeds Ellen Perez and Storm Sanders 6-1, 6-3 in the final to claim their second WTA trophy.
Gökhan Taner
41
/45
Playing her sixth career final - and first since Kuala Lumpur 2016 - Eugenie Bouchard's quest for a second WTA title started brightly as the Canadian raced to a one-set lead over Patricia Maria Tig.
Gökhan Taner
42
/45
Tig roared back to dominate the second set, but the decider would be a nail-biter as she fended off a late fightback from Bouchard - eventually sealing the third-set tiebreak on her eighth championship point.
Gökhan Taner
43
/45
Despite the disappointment, the determination and stamina Bouchard had exhibited in spending 14 hours and 56 minutes on court in Istanbul lifted the former World No.5 back into the Top 200.
Gökhan Taner
44
/45
After a week where tennis mothers have captured headlines worldwide, Tig was the one left holding a singles trophy - and the Romanian shared the moment with husband Razvan Sabau and daughter Sofia afterwards.
Gökhan Taner
45
/45
Having previously lost finals at Baku 2015 and Bucharest 2019, Tig's maiden WTA title marks another step in a superb comeback from maternity leave - and raises the 26-year-old to a new career-high ranking of World No.58.
Gökhan Taner
