No.2 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico captured the WTA 125 Montevideo Open singles title by edging past No.1 seed Diane Parry 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in Sunday's final.
World No.128 Zarazua was twice down a break in the final set before rallying for a 2-hour and 45-minute victory over 94th-ranked Parry on the clay courts of the Uruguayan capital city.
With the comeback win, 26-year-old Zarazua takes home the first WTA 125 title of her career. She had previously been a runner-up on the hard courts of WTA 125 Concord, losing that final to Magdalena Frech.
Zarazua also moves up to a new career-high ranking of No.105 in Monday's update.
Zarazua cruised through her first three rounds this week, but she had to survive a battle in Saturday's semifinals. In that clash, Zarazua led Maria Lourdes Carle 4-1 in the third set before Carle surged and served for the match at 5-4. Zarazua rebounded by winning the next three games to advance to the final.
Sunday's final was similarly back-and-forth. At 5-4, Parry was two points away from winning the first set, but Zarazua used some well-timed drop shots to stay in the opener and build a 6-5 lead. On her first set point, Zarazua cranked a backhand winner to steal the one-set lead.
In the second set, Zarazua was a point away from a 4-1 lead, but Parry's forehand clicked into gear at that stage. The Frenchwoman, who won the inaugural Montevideo title in 2021, fired a number of winners from her forehand wing to reel off five straight games and snatch the second set.
Parry eased to a 3-1 lead in the third set but a forehand miscue into the net allowed Zarazua to level terms at 3-3. From there, Zarazua moved ahead 5-4, where a rally backhand winner gave the Mexican her first championship point. There, a Parry backhand found the net, giving Zarazua the highest-level title of her career.
In Saturday's Montevideo Open doubles final, the unseeded all-Argentine pairing of Maria Lourdes Carle and Julia Riera defeated No.4 seeds Freya Christie and Yuliana Lizarazo 7-6(5), 7-5 to claim the title.
Carle and Riera beat three seeded teams on their way to the title, and they did not drop a set in all four of their wins this week. They took 1 hour and 44 minutes to topple Christie of Great Britain and Colombia's Lizarazo in the final.
Carle is on an eight-match winning streak in doubles, having won two WTA 125 doubles titles in a two-week span. Carle won her first career WTA 125 doubles title alongside Despina Papamichail in Buenos Aires last week. As for Riera, this is her first career WTA 125 title.
