The French player beat the Swiss Jenny Duerst in the final by 6-4, 7-5.

 

A colorful final, an extraordinary atmosphere with large crowds in the stands of the Peña Vitoriana Club center court and a name of her own: Jessika Ponchet. The French player was proclaimed champion of the III edition of the Araba World Tennis Tour Women – Open Grupo Amutio, after defeating the Swiss Jenny Duerst by 6-4, 7-5.

The finalists suffered the effects of a heat that punished both, although Duerst, who came from the qualifying round and had also participated in doubles, played her tenth match in a week, for five of the gala.

Ponchet had six ITF titles to her name but none in the 60,000 range. Her experience and intelligence allowed her to put the match on her side at all times. Her better serve and effective drive stroke, were making a dent in a battling Duerst. The first set was marked by breaks and counterbreaks, but at key moments, the player from Bayonne knew how to change the pace with high balls or going up to the net. With 6-4 in favor in 39 minutes, the second set followed the same path. The Swiss committed 9 unforced errors and 5 double faults. The problems with her first serve were also sapping her strength.  Ponchet, a player with presence on the court, also put on the court her experience and her position 195 in the ranking on the 500 of her rival. The details counted, to go kneading game by game a match that always had to face and that was making with the high percentage of points scored with his first service, 71%.

The match did not last an hour and a half. Ponchet achieved a celebrated and important title for her because, apart from the economic amount, about 9,000 dollars, it adds 80 WTA points and moves her up in the world ranking to 152nd place, climbing more than 40.

Ponchet, who lives in Bayonne, participated last year, but fell in the quarterfinals. She had just completed a good month after disputing the final of the ITF of Palma del Rio and the semifinals in doubles of a WTA tournament. She has also played the preliminary round of Roland Garros.

For her part, Duerst leaves Vitoria as the great revelation. It is not often that a player who comes from the qualifying round ends up playing in the final. At 23 years of age, she has a very promising future ahead of her. Her great tournament in the capital of Alava also serves to pocket about $ 5,000 and move up to 360th place in the world, that is, scale 140. Which means she will have many more options to play tournaments at this level.

From the club, a very positive balance is made, with a feeling of having attended an ITF 60,000 tournament but with a tennis level that could well have been 100,000. The level of the players, the impeccable organization and the satisfaction of the fans, as well as the media coverage, with Eurosport cameras and also the repercussion offered by the youtube channel of the Spanish Tennis Federation, in addition to all the local and regional media that have followed the 7 days of the tournament, invite us to think more ambitiously about 2023.