The remaining participants are young, novice players between 17 and 24 years old.
There are only two days left to determine the new champion of the Mérida Open WTA 250. A confirmed fact is that it will be a player outside the top 100 in the world ranking.
Friday’s singles semifinal matches were defined in this tournament, and none of the invited players are within the top 100 in the world. They are young tennis hopefuls with little-explored profiles ranging from 17 to 24 years old.
The most experienced player is Ann Li. Born on June 26, 2000, in Atlanta, United States, she currently ranks 111th in the world and reached her highest point at the beginning of 2022 by entering the top 50 (44). In addition, she holds two titles on the WTA Tour: the 250 in Tenerife 2021 and the Challenger 125 in Valencia in 2024.
Ann Li secured her place in the semifinals in Mérida after defeating Jil Teichmann from Switzerland in two convincing sets of 6-1 and 6-1. Prior to this, she eliminated Croatian Antonia Ruzic and Spanish Nuria Párrizas, who was seeded eighth.
In the semifinals, Li will face Russian Polina Kudermetova, 21 years old and ranked 133rd in the world. Unlike the American player, Kudermetova has never entered the top 100 in the world and achieved her first victory on the WTA Tour in June 2023.
Polina advanced to the semifinals in Mérida by coming back from behind against Serbian Nina Stojanovic, who initially won her quarterfinal match 7-5 but then lost 4-6 and 3-6.
The other semifinal was a strong contender for local fans after Renata Zarazúa, the only Mexican participant, lost to Turkish Zeynep Sonmez in the quarterfinals in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 4-6) in a nearly three-hour match.
Sonmez is 22 years old and, like Polina Kudermetova, made her debut on the WTA Tour in June 2023. She has reached the semifinals of this tournament, an accomplishment she achieved during her first year on the circuit (she won four ITF titles) and marking a remarkable season after making her main-draw debut at a Grand Slam event at Roland Garros.
Sonmez will face another Russian, Alina Korneeva, in the semifinals of Mérida. Korneeva is 17 years old and has just begun her WTA Tour career, which started in October 2023 in Hong Kong. She secured her place in the penultimate stage after beating Spanish Sara Sorribes in two sets (6-3, 6-1).
Sonmez ranks 127th in the world, while Korneeva currently ranks 254th.
One of them will participate in the final of the Mérida Open to boost their career at the end of 2024.
The other finalist will come from the match between Ann Li (ranked 111th) and Polina Kudermetova (ranked 133rd). In this matchup, experience slightly favors Li, although it has become apparent throughout the Mérida Open 2024 that this does not guarantee success.
None of the eight best seeds in the tournament managed to reach the semifinals this weekend: Renata Zarazúa (62nd in the world), Nadia Podoroska, Ajla Tomljanovic, Jule Niemeier, Anna Blinkova, María Lourdes Carlé, Tatjana Maria, or Nuria Párrizas.
All of them are within the top 100 of the current world ranking. Zarazúa has already secured a prize of $11,610 as a semifinalist, while the runner-up will receive $20,830 and the champion $35,250.
In the doubles division, the only undecided semi-final on Friday is that of Quinn Gleason (USA) and Ingrid Gamarra (Brazil) against María Lourdes Carlé (Argentina) and Eva Vedder (Netherlands).
The other semi-final has already been assured for Belgians Magali Kempen and Lara Salden. They are awaiting their opponents in the match between Mexican Renata Zarazúa and Russian Anastasia Tikhonova against Russians Maria Kononova and Maria Kozyreva, which will take place on Saturday at around 4:30 p.m. local time. After a break, the semi-final will be played against the Kempen-Salden duo on the same day.
Source: El Economista
