Irina Camelia Begu, the Romanian tennis player, is back at the WTA tournament after five seasons of waiting
The sixth seed was dominant as she knocked out host Lucia Bronzetti 6-2, 6-2 in the Palermo Open final, claiming her fifth career singles title. Prior to Palermo, he last won in Bucharest in the 2017 season.
The world number 45 entered the final of the Palermo Open 4-4 in the final but re-entered the championship ranks after a 1 hour 33 minute battle against world number 78 Bronzetti who was in the final of the WTA singles tournament for the first time in his career.
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Camelia Begu often won long rallies early in the game and broke Bronzetti three times en route to claiming a 5-1 lead. Although the hosts showed tenacity by closing the gap with 5-2, a backhand winner that touched the line led the Romanian to win the first set.
In the second set, the sixth seed easily claimed a 3-0 lead, showing no fatigue after playing for 3 hours 12 minutes against Sara Sorribes Tormo in the semifinals of the Palermo Open.
Bronzetti again showed tenacity by getting a break, but the sixth seed regrouped and snatched the final three games and closed out the match with the second ace he created in the final. Throughout the game, he converted six of the 12 break point opportunities he created.
Irina Camelia Begu is likely to maintain her winning streak when she next competes at the Poland Open, Warsaw where she will emerge as the fourth seed.
In the final of the Palermo Open doubles, the third seeded pair Anna Bondar and Kimberley Zimmermann defeated the unseeded pair, Amina Anshba and Panna Udvardy 6-3, 6-2.
Bondar and Zimmermann have previously been a team twice and both came at the ITF Challenger last season, winning one title and in the other, progressing to the semifinals. Now with titles on their WTA debuts, Bondar and Zimmerman are 9-1 at all levels.