Iva Jovic completed a second straight Guadalajara title run without surrendering a set, beating Peyton Stearns 6-4, 6-2 in the final to close the hard-court swing in Mexico. The 18-year-old’s unbeaten record at the event now stands at 9-0, and the trophy lifted her three places to a career-best No. 13 in the PIF WTA Rankings.
The match
Jovic, whose first tour breakthrough came at this tournament a year ago, again controlled the Guadalajara draw from start to finish. Her route included victories over Zeynep Sonmez, Magdalena Frech and Cristina Bucsa before she met Stearns for the championship.
Stearns had produced one of the tournament’s standout shots earlier in the week, redirecting a deep rally against Liudmila Samsonova with a sharp forehand winner. Samsonova had reached the quarterfinals after surviving Kayla Day 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(5). Day had erased a 4-0 deficit in the deciding set to force the second tiebreak of their match, but Samsonova held on.
Samsonova also recovered from a set down to beat Marta Kostyuk 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, extending her perfect head-to-head record against the Ukrainian to 5-0. The victory was her first over a Top 10 opponent since June 2025. Kostyuk subsequently said she would skip the forthcoming Billie Jean King Cup quarterfinals while continuing recovery from a wrist injury.
Quevedo breaks through in Sao Paulo
Kaitlin Quevedo claimed her first WTA Tour title at the SP Open, coming back to defeat Nadia Podoroska 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a rain-delayed final. The championship match was pushed back by one day, but the 20-year-old Spaniard recovered after losing the opening set to finish her fifth victory of the week.
Quevedo had moved smoothly through her first three matches before surviving two three-set contests on the way to the title. It came in only her eighth WTA main draw and eight months after her tour-level debut in Auckland. She will enter the Top 100 for the first time at No. 73.
Another extended Sao Paulo contest saw Eva Lys defeat Gabriela Ce 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 across two days. Lys led 3-0 and 5-3 in the second set after taking the opener comfortably, but Ce forced a decider before rain halted play at 2-2. When action resumed, Lys trailed 5-3 in the third before claiming the last four games. The playing time reached two hours and 33 minutes, excluding the rain delay.
Vendula Valdmannova, 18, earned the first tour-level win of her career in Sao Paulo, overturning Laura Pigossi 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. The Czech teenager’s campaign ended in her following match against Anna Blinkova.
Tour notes
The WTA Finals will move to Charlotte for the 2027 through 2029 editions after this season’s event at Indian Wells. The year-end championships are set to be staged at Spectrum Center, the home arena of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.
Elena Rybakina remained in New York after winning the US Open and rising to World No. 1, appearing on NBC’s Today and CBS Mornings. Amanda Anisimova withdrew from the Singapore tournament because of a left-wrist injury.
