OEIRAS, April 18, 2021

Top seed Polona Hercog is the singles champion of the Oeiras Ladies Open, an ITF World Tennis Tour W60 event held at the Complexo Desportivo do Jamor in Oeiras, Portugal.

The World No. 74 from Slovenia won Sunday’s singles final without hitting a ball, as her opponent and No. 5 seed Clara Burel of France was forced to withdraw from the match due to physical problems in both ankles.

“Yesterday was a very long day, with two big matches, and I was unable to recover. My body was not feeling well, so I preferred to give up the final. It was not an easy decision to make, but it was the best one. Today, I realized that I was not going to be able to play. During the night I had a lot of pain and when I woke up it got worse, so I realized that I was not going to be able to enter the court,” explained Burel, who was top of the ITF Junior Rankings in 2018.

Hercog reached the title match with wins over Ekaterine Gorgodze from Georgia, Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania and Italian Lucia Bronzetti. The 30-year-old captured her 18th career title on the ITF Pro Circuit, her first triumph since winning the WTA tournament in Lugano, Switzerland 2019.

“I am very happy to have managed to win the tournament, although it was not the end I was hoping for. Yesterday was a hard day for everyone and we were all very tired and with some physical problems, but I hope it is nothing serious. I wish Clara the best, who had a great week,” said Hercog.