In the final of the WTA-125 tournament in Tampico, Russian tennis player Anna Blinkova will play against Marina Stakusic from Canada.
Marina Stakusic
The 19-year-old Canadian representative has been showing very good tennis at a small tournament in Mexico since qualifying. Let us remind you that on October 23, Stakusic confidently beat Anastasia Soboleva from Ukraine in the 1/16 finals in two sets – 6:2; 6:2.
On October 24, Marina made a sensation in the 1/8 finals; the Canadian in two sets, but in a stubborn fight, beat Robin Montgomery from the USA – 6:4; 7:6 (7:5).
On October 25, Stakusic played a difficult match in the quarterfinals, but still managed to win a strong-willed victory over the Italian Luerezia Stefanini in three sets – 0:6; 6:4; 7:5.
This morning, in the semi-finals of the tournament, Marina again played a difficult match, but in the end, the Canadian representative made a sensation and beat Sara Sorribes-Tormo from Spain in two sets – 7:6 (7:3); 7:6 (7:0). Stakusic started the match hard and immediately lost a game on her serve and settled for a 0:2 score in games. However, already with the score 1:2 in games, Marina added and due to the return break she managed to reach the score 2:2. In the middle of the game, with the score 3:3 in games, the tennis players exchanged breaks. After that, Marina and Sara worked smart on their serves and in the end the set turned out to be protracted, and then it came to a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Stakusic already played almost without errors, and thus the Canadian closed the set in her favor. In the second set, already from a score of 0:1 in games, the tennis players exchanged breaks twice in a row from a score of 0:1 in games, and then Marina lost a game on her serve for the third time in a row and settled for a score of 2:5. It seemed that Stakusic had lost the set, but Marina showed character and with a score of 3:5 in games, the Canadian representative made two breaks in a row, which allowed her to reach 6:5. After this, Stakusic could not control her nerves and was unable to serve for the match, which led to a tiebreaker for the second time in a row. In the tiebreaker, Marina already played without errors, and thus she closed the difficult match in her favor. The tennis players spent two hours and forty minutes on the court.
Previously, Marina Stakusic did not win tournaments on the WTA tour.
Anna Blinkova
The 26-year-old Russian tennis player, in turn, is going for her first WTA title this season and her second in a row in two weeks after winning the ITF in the USA. This morning, in the semifinals of the tournament in Tampico, Blinkova played a difficult match, but Anna was still able to beat another representative of Canada, Rebecca Marino, in three sets – 7:6 (10:8); 6:7 (4:7); 6:2. At the very beginning of the match, Anna saved the game on her serve from the score 15:40, and then, with the score 1:1 in games, the Russian tennis player herself made a break and reached the score 3:1. In the middle of the game, with the score 4:2 in games, Blinkova made a second break, but then Anna lost control of the game and, having lost the game on her serve twice in a row, she allowed Marino to win back. The set ended up being a protracted one, and then it came to a tiebreaker, where, after a very stubborn fight, Anna was still able to put the finishing touches on her opponent. At the very beginning of the second set, Blinkova lost a game on her serve and eventually settled for a 0:2 game score. In the middle of the game, the Russian tennis player added and was able to reach a 4:4 score in games due to a return break. The set ended up being drawn out for the second time in a row, and then it came down to a tiebreaker again. In the tiebreaker, Blinkova played unstable this time and thus she lost the game. In the decisive set, Anna already made two breaks in a row from the score 1:1 in games, and due to competent work on her serve, the Russian tennis player reached the score 5:1. After that, Blinkova calmly brought the match to victory and closed the game with a big difference. The tennis players spent two hours and fifty minutes on the court.
Earlier in her career, Anna Blinkova won the WTA tournament in Cluj-Napoca in 2022, and last season she reached the final of the tournament in Strasbourg.
Forecast
In this match, Anna Blinkova is, of course, considered by the bookmakers to be an extremely clear favorite. However, in the battle for the title, Stakusic in his current form can put up a good fight, given that Blinkova does not always play consistently.
