Beatriz Haddad Maia Becomes First Brazilian Woman to Reach Top 10 of the WTA Rankings

Beatriz Haddad Maia’s French Open dream run may have fallen short of a title, but it still lead to a piece of history.

The 27-year-old Brazilian professional tennis player has become the first Brazilian woman to reach the top 10 of the WTA rankings after reaching the semifinals at Roland Garros.

Beatriz Haddad MaiaHaddad Maia beat Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the quarterfinals in Paris to become the first Brazilian woman in 55 years to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.

She was beaten by eventual champion Iga Swiatek.

Brazilian women’s tennis has had precious little success since the days of Maria Bueno, who won seven Grand Slam titles between 1959 and 1966 — long before the WTA rankings were introduced in 1975.

Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten reached No. 1 in the men’s ATP rankings in 2000.

Haddad Maia will take a ranking of No. 10 into the grass-court season in which she impressed last year and will feature in this week’s Nottingham Open as buildup to Wimbledon begins.

Swiatek, who won her third career French Open title Saturday, and Aryna Sabalenka remained at Nos. 1-2 in the rankings, while Elena Rybakina and Caroline Garcia each moved up one spot to Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. American Jessica Pegula rounded out the top five.

Caroline Garcia Outlasts Bianca Andreescu at Bad Homburg Open to Win First WTA Title in Three Years

Caroline Garcia is back in the winner’s circle…

The 28-year-old half-Spanish French tennis player outlasted 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in the final of the Bad Homburg Open, giving her a first tour title in three years.

Caroline GarciaGarcia had to come back from a set and a break down to beat her opponent.

Garcia took a medical timeout for what seemed to be a shoulder problem early in the second set. She then went 4-2 down before winning 10 of the next 14 games to seal the match ahead of the start of Wimbledon on Monday.

“It was a fight [for] every point from the first to the last one,” Garcia said.

Caroline GarciaGarcia is 8-3 in career finals but her last title was almost exactly three years ago in Nottingham in the build-up to the 2019 Wimbledon tournament.

Andreescu was looking for her first title since beating Serena Williams in the 2019 final at Flushing Meadows before injuries forced her to miss the entire 2020 season.

Beatriz Haddad Maia Wins Birmingham Classic Title

Beatriz Haddad Maia now has back-to-back WTA titles…

The 26-year-old Brazilian tennis player secured back-to-back WTA titles on Sunday after Chinese opponent Shuai Zhang retired with an injury trailing 5-4 in the first set of the Birmingham Classic final.

Beatriz Haddad Maia Haddad Maia hadn’t won a senior title before arriving in England to play the Nottingham Open last week. Now she has two in her collection, both coming on grass courts.

The unseeded Haddad Maia and the eighth-seeded Zhang went into the final having won semifinal matches on Sunday morning — against second-seeded Simona Halep and Sorana Cirstea, respectively — after rain washed out the whole of Saturday.

Haddad Maia, who lost the first two games of the final, was preparing to serve for the first set when Zhang — who had consulted with medical staff during the changeover — walked slowly to the net and hugged her opponent. It was not immediately apparent what the injury was.

The two players teamed up to win the doubles title in Nottingham last week.

Cuevas Defeats Gilles Muller to Reach Nottingham Open Final

Pablo Cuevas is one step away from a career first…

The 30-year-old Uruguayan tennis player reached the first grass-court final of his career on Friday after beating Gilles Muller in three sets at the Nottingham Open.

Pablo Cuevas

Before this week, Cuevas had only two match wins on grass in his 12-year career. This week he’s won four after beating Muller 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in the semifinals.

Cuevas is eyeing a sixth career title against Steve Johnson of the United States.

“I’m so happy to reach my first final on grass,” Cuevas said. “I have played every match with more confidence and today I beat an excellent player on grass. Hopefully tomorrow I will enjoy it, too.”

Cuevas has had to rally all week: He was a set down in the second round, saved a match point against Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals, and trailed Muller by a set and 4-4. Muller had three break chances but Cuevas saved them all.

Muller hit 19 aces through the first two sets, but in the tiebreaker, trailing 6-3, he hit a double-fault to concede the second set.

The third set stayed on serve until the fifth game, when Muller was broken for the first time in the match, and smashed his racket in frustration.