Former world No. 58 Chirico bounces back with biggest title yet
After two years away from the game due to injury, former world No. 58 Louisa Chirico bounced back with the biggest triumph of her career on the ITF World Tennis Tour at W60 Charlottesville on Sunday.
The 25-year-old American, who didn’t compete between August 2019 and May 2021, ended a three-year wait for silverware with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Wang Xiyu in the final.
The triumph, the fifth of Chirico’s career and her first since she won W25 Sao Paulo in March 2019, avenged her loss to the Chinese player during her run to the semi-finals at W100 Palm Harbor the previous week.
Chirico, a former junior world No. 6, broke into the WTA’s Top 60 in 2016 – a year highlighted by her run to the semi-finals in Madrid, where she enjoyed wins over Monica Niculescu, Ana Ivanovic and Daria Saville.
Lucia Bronzetti also enjoyed a milestone victory at an ITF W60 tournament over the weekend, climbing to a career-high No. 80 in the world after lifting the biggest title of her career – and first above W15 level – at W60 Chiasso.
The 23-year-old Italian, who broke into the Top 100 earlier this month after reaching the fourth round as a qualifier at the WTA Premier event in Miami, continued that form on the switch to her favoured clay, overcoming home hope Simona Waltert 2-6 6-3 6-3 in the final of the Swiss tournament.
Bronzetti’s last tournament win came at the lowest level of professional tennis at W15 Le Havre in March 2021, but she has enjoyed a significant upturn in fortunes since then.
She has reached her first three WTA quarter-finals over the past 10 months – as both a qualifier at Lausanne and as a wild card in Palermo in July, ahead of a further run to the last eight as a qualifier in Portoroz in September. She also qualified, and won a match, at a Grand Slam for the first time at this year’s Australian Open. Her title in Chiasso is her fifth ITF singles crown overall.