Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu won her first WTA title in convincing fashion on Sunday at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., defeating 23-year old Greek Maria Sakkari, 6-1, 6-0, in 1 hour, 13 minutes.
The victory will see Buzarnescu break into the Top 20 for the first time at 30 years old. Injuries have affected the Romanian’s career so much so that she was ranked outside the Top 400 as recently as May 2017 and used her time away from tennis to complete a PhD in sports science.
Sakkari, who defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and two-time NCAA singles champion Danielle Collins in the semis, turned in a career-best result by reaching the final.
The US Open Series now brings the world’s best players to Canada in Week 3, with the Rogers Cup in Toronto (men) and Montreal (women). John Isner, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Frances Tiafoe, Jared Donaldson, Ryan Harrison and qualifier Bradley Klahn are the American men competing in Toronto. Montreal will feature Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams and qualifiers Caroline Dolehide and Christina McHale.
ESPN2’s coverage of both Rogers Cup events begins with second-round matches on Thursday and continues through Friday’s quarterfinals, Saturday’s semifinals and Sunday’s finals. The women’s final from Montreal will air at 1:30 p.m. ET, while the men’s final from Toronto will air at 4 p.m. ET. Additionally, Tennis Channel will have weeklong ATP World Tour coverage from Toronto, beginning on Monday and continuing through Sunday’s doubles final, wihle beIN Sports will air early-round matches in Montreal, beginning on Monday and continuing through Thursday.
