TENERIFE/STARNBERG, October 20, 2021
Colombia’s rising tennis star Maria Camila Osorio Serrano headlined Wednesday’s action at the Tenerife Ladies Open by knocking the World No. 7 Elina Svitolina from the Ukraine, top seed of the WTA 250 hard-court event, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
After losing the opening set and the suspension of the first-round match due to darkness yesterday, the 19-year-old made an impressive return to the Center Court at the Abama Tennis Academy. Osorio Serrano, the 2019 US Open girl’s singles champion and former World No. 1 in the ITF Juniors Ranking, capitalized on seven of her 13 break-point chances to prevail after one hour and 55 minutes.
“It was an incredible match,” Osorio Serrano said after securing her first Top 10 win. “I can’t believe I won. Elina is an icon and a great fighter, I gave everything I had within me to beat her.”
Osorio Serrano lifted three trophies on the ITF World Tennis Tour but has already established herself on the WTA Tour, enjoying her breakthrough season.
In April 2021, while ranked World No. 180, Osorio Serrano captured her first singles title at the 2021 Copa Colsanitas in her native Colombia, beating Slovenian Tamara Zidansek in the final. She backed up her strong performance the following week with a semi-final appearance at the Charleston Open. In May, the teenager reached her third straight clay-court semi-final at the Serbia Open, cracking the Top 100 as a result.
Osorio Serrano came through the qualifying at Roland Garros to make her Grand Slam debut. She lost in the first round to Madison Brengle. In June, the Cucuta native again qualified for the main draw at the Wimbledon Championships. Osorio Serrano reached the third round by defeating fellow-qualifier Anna Kalinskaya and No. 32 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova before losing to second favourite Aryna Sabalenka.
She started at the US Open by beating Ivana Jorovic in her first match before losing to Ons Jabeur in the second round.
“The truth is that I am aware of my qualities on clay and grass, but I did not think I could already achieve such a prestigious victory on a fast surface. Now, I enjoy the success but I have to think about the next round,” the World No. 63 said. Up next for Osorio Serrano in Tenerife will be Mayar Sherif of Egypt.
Tenerife Ladies Open – Wednesday Results
Second Round
Alize Cornet d. Xinyu Wang 6-1, 6-7, 4-1 ret.
Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova d. Jaqueline Adina Cristian 6-2, 7-5
Ann Li d. Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-2
First Round
Maria Camila Osorio Serrano d. Elina Svitolina 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
🗓Order of play | Thursday 21@WTA #TenerifeLadiesOpen #meftennisevents pic.twitter.com/8TFNZtgKlO
— MEF tennis events (@meftennisevents) October 20, 2021
