For the second week in a row, the world’s best junior won the professional ITF tournament in Turkey with a prize fund of $25,000. In the final match, after a great fight in three sets, Marčinko defeated 21-year-old Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (242nd on the WTA list) – 1:6, 6:4. 6:4.
Unlike their clash last week, the Italian was much closer to success this time. Marčinko opened the match poorly and lost the first set 6:1, but then gathered the strength to come back to win 4:6, 4:6 and turn the match in her favor for yet another title in her young career. This is Petra’s second ITF title in two weeks and her 24th win in a row. Last week, the 16-year-old reached her first title in professional singles tournaments after defeating France’s Carole Monnet (279th on the WTA list) convincingly in two sets – 6:4, 6:1.
To put things into perspective, Petra Marčinko is the most successful female tennis player in the world this season with 24 wins, losing for the last time on October 15 last year. Her greatness is measured in that Rafael Nadal leads in the men’s competition, losing last on December 18, 2021, against Shapovalov with 19 consecutive wins.
In January, Marčinko also became the world’s best junior tennis player and won the Australian Open Juniors title at the beginning of the year.
The Zagreb tennis player who turns 17 in December and only began playing at the senior level this year has shown her incredible talent with these two titles in Antalya. She will also look forward to a huge leap in the world rankings. Namely, before these two tournaments, Marčinko was 928th, and now she should place around 420th on the WTA list.
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