Valentova hits career-high with Monastir title

CZECH 17-year-old Tereza Valentova boosted her ranking by 70 spots to achieve a career-high spot of 618th on the WTA Tour after winning an all-teenage final in Monastir. The Czech young gun technically won the title as a 16-year-old over the weekend, turning 17 today in what was no doubt the perfect birthday gift.

Valentova defeated Chinese fifth seed Yufei Ren 6-3 6-2 thanks to a 72 per cent winning rate off her first serve. The unseeded Czech also won 54 per cent of her second serve points and broke six times from eight chances, stepping up upon return. Ren did break twice from seven chances, but in the end it was Valentova’s consistency across the court that saw her home.

Ren as coming off an upset three-set victory over top seed, Japan’s Rina Saigo, 6-2 4-6 6-1, with her three previous matches leading up to the final going the full distance. That undoubtedly affected her with Valentova crushing all of her opponents en route to the W15 title in Tunisia.

Valentova dropped just 18 games for the entire tournament, and 13 across her first four matches at an average of 3.3 per match. She recorded a double bagel in her second round match, and never looked like losing across the course of the event stepping up to breakthrough for her maiden women’s title on the Tunisian hard courts.

That was not the only first for Valentova, with the Czech claiming her first hard court title in lifting the trophy. All of her ITF Junior titles – six – came on clay, with her most recent being a J300 event in Prague last year.

From the victory, Valentova moved up to being the second highest ranked 2007-born Czech on the WTA Tour behind top 100 talent Brenda Fruhvirtova. Ren also moved up 23 spots thanks to her tournament, achieving a career-high ranking of 513th in the world, and is clearly the top ranked Chinese player in her age bracket.

Valentova will remain in Tunisia where she will compete in another W15 event hoping to go back-to-back. She is now seventh seed at the event, and has been drawn against American 18-year-old wildcard, Monika Wojcik The top ranked player at the event is Frenchwoman Nina Radovanovic, who will be hoping to bounce back from her first round exit in the city a couple of weeks earlier. Radovanovic is ranked 532nd in the world.

Meanwhile on the ATP Tour, Spanish 18-year-old Martin Landaluce – the top-ranked 2006-born male – won an M25 event in Vila Real de Santo Antonio to maintain a clear lead over the next best, Landaluce is ranked 466th in the world and will take part in the ATP75 event in Tenerife this week.

However Brazilian 17-year-old Joao Fonseca will look to close in on that, earning a wildcard at the ATP 500 Rio de Janeiro event. He takes on seventh seed Frenchman Arthur Fils tomorrow. Reigning Wimbledon Junior Boys champion and 17-year-old Henry Searle was the major mover in the rankings, rising up to a career-high 778th in the world with a 96-point boost after a quarter finals appearance at the ATP 50 event in Glasgow.

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