Buzarnescu returns to winning ways at W80+H Le Neubourg 

Former world No. 20 Mihaela Buzarnescu capped her fine form on the ITF World Tennis Tour in recent weeks with her first singles title in three years, winning W80+H Le Neubourg with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Hungary’s Anna Bondar in the final. 

“After three years of roller coaster, dreams came true again,” wrote the 33-year-old, who claims the 24th singles title of her career and first since winning her first WTA crown in San Jose back in 2018. 

Buzarnescu’s title comes hot on the heels of her final appearance at W80 Valencia last week, while Bondar similarly has reached two finals in the past fortnight, winning the W80 Wiesbaden title a week ago. 

There was home success for USA’s Usue Maitane Arconada at W60 Berkeley, CA, who claimed the second W60 title of her career – and fifth overall – with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Mexico’s Marcela Zacarias in the final, as well as W25 Pretoria, where 19-year-old South African Zoe Kruger won the first title of her career with a 3-6 6-4 6-4 win over Netherlands’ Suzan Lamens. 

“I actually had my first tennis lesson on court number 5 at Tuks tennis court,” said Kruger. “So it’s such an honour to win my first title here as well.” 

Irene Burillo Escorihuela bounced back from a run of nine successive defeats stretching back to June as she surged to her second title of 2021, the Spaniard defeating Turkey’s Ipek Oz 6-4 6-0 to clinch the W25 Lisbon crown.

Two serial ITF World Tennis Tour champions got back to winning ways this weekend, Hungary’s Reka Luca Jani triumphing on home soil at W25 Budapest with a 6-2 6-4 win over Giulia Gatto-Monticone. The 30-year-old now has 23 singles titles to her name, this latest addition her first in three years. 

At W15 Monastir, Alya Aksu also ended her three-year wait for a champion’s trophy with victory over Thailand’s Pimrada Jattavapornvanit, 6-3 6-4. The Turkish 25-year-old now has 11 ITF singles titles to her name. 

Meanwhile in Egypt, Anastasia Zolotareva extended her winning run in Cairo to 15 matches and three singles titles in as many weeks, with a 6-2 3-6 6-3 victory over Egyptian Lamis Alhussein Abdel Aziz. All five of the 19-year-old Russian’s ITF titles to date have been won in Cairo dating back to 2020.