The Base Line: Navone and Jodar claim first ATP titles while Pegula rules in Charleston

[p][a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/0MkjaTp4HIoWWWTkXfvywc?si=WrpIoELKRZWVaWNeRelPKA" target="_blank"][i][b]Listen to the article with Spotify.[/b][/i][/a][/p][h2]Title winners[/h2][p]It was third time lucky for Argentina’s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/navone-mariano/YoPUeL3o/"]Mariano Navone[/a] on Sunday in Bucharest when the 25-year-old defeated Spain’s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/daniel-merida-aguilar/WOtXbAu5/"]Daniel Merida[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/daniel-m-a-WOtXbAu5/navone-m-YoPUeL3o/?mid=AJn5FsFl"]6-2, 4-6, 7-5[/a] to claim his first ATP title in his third final. [/p][p]Navone, who also made his way to the final in the Romanian capital two years ago, managed to come out on top in a chaotic final against the Spanish qualifier, who was in his maiden ATP final. [/p][p][b]Just like Navone, who had even saved a pair of match points in a three-hour and 31-minute quarter-final victory over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/van-de-zandschulp-botic/YwiLpILD/"]Botic Van de Zandschulp[/a] in Bucharest, 19-year-old [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jodar-rafael/OdngshVK/"]Rafael Jodar[/a] also celebrated winning his first ATP trophy on Sunday in Marrakech.[/b][/p][p]The Spanish youngster beat surprise Argentine finalist [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/trungelliti-marco/dQJqWoGg/"]Marco Trungelliti[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/jodar-r-OdngshVK/trungelliti-m-dQJqWoGg/?mid=vZlD8Z14"]6-3, 6-2[/a] in just over an hour. The 36-year-old Trungelliti was the oldest first-time ATP finalist in the Open era, and on Monday, he becomes the oldest debutant in the men's top 100 since 45-year-old Dane Torben Ulrich in 1973.[/p][embed guid="7b25b9c0-562e-4b63-bc78-44c5ca2b2535" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NFo-BN-nlY" social-type="youtube" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/paul-tommy/pd3ye1BS/"]Tommy Paul[/a] was as close to defeat as possible Sunday in Houston as the American saved three championship points to defeat Argentine [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/burruchaga-roman-andres/CE7B5N90/"]Roman Andres Burruchaga[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/burruchaga-r-a-CE7B5N90/paul-t-pd3ye1BS/?mid=Yo5dxh9e"]6-1, 3-6, 7-5[/a] in the ATP 250 tournament in Houston to claim his fifth ATP Tour title and first on clay.[/p][p]1085 miles east of Houston, another American, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Jessica Pegula[/a], came from a set down in each of her first three matches to reach the final in Charleston.[/p][p][b]She became the first to defend her title since [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-serena/ttsu68nH/"]Serena Williams[/a] in 2013, as she won [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/pegula-j-KdojxrAR/starodubtsewa-y-GlqMuuhi/?mid=fy4dX5Rb"]6-2, 6-2[/a] in the final against first-time finalist [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/starodubtsewa-yulia/GlqMuuhi/"]Yuliia Starodubtseva[/a].[/b][/p][p]Finally, in Bogota, top-seeded [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bouzkova-marie/WMS3AdAb/"]Marie Bouzkova[/a] came back from a set down to beat [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/udvardy-panna/bLI5Djkk/"]Panna Udvardy[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/bouzkova-m-WMS3AdAb/udvardy-p-bLI5Djkk/?mid=6ZFfbfmC"]6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2[/a] to capture her third career singles title at the WTA 250 tournament. [/p][h2]Biggest strugglers[/h2][p]While he has consistently been a strong clay-court specialist, Argentina's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/baez-sebastian/dd8jLjtO/"]Sebastian Baez[/a] struggles significantly on faster surfaces. Over the last two years, he has gone 8–27 on hard courts, with limited success at Grand Slams outside of Roland Garros. [/p][p]So, as the clay season starts to gather momentum, this is the time of the year when you would expect Baez to lay the foundation for a successful year.[/p][p]However, Baez, who otherwise began the year in impressive fashion with a hard-fought three-set win at the United Cup against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fritz-taylor/UH09iaZ6/"]Taylor Fritz[/a], certainly hasn't had the start to the clay season that he had wished for. [/p][p][b]Baez, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 18 in June 2024, has become too error-prone in recent matches, losing the consistent rally tolerance that previously defined his game, and has seen his ranking drop to 50th in the world.[/b][/p][embed guid="a490f56d-bdb4-4794-a616-522d1699c6ee" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnHCVA2fIbs" social-type="youtube" /][p]The Argentine suffered a shocking defeat against 'lucky loser' [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/faria-jaime/ETojuYQP/"]Jaime Faria[/a] in the first round of the ATP tournament in Rio de Janeiro, and in Bucharest, he crashed out in the second round against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/droguet-titouan/A57Xet1f/"]Titouan Droguet[/a] (No. 122 in the world).[/p][p]Baez will now enter the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event of the season in Monte-Carlo with concerns about his ability to consistently sustain high-intensity physical effort during long rallies.[/p][h2]Standout moment[/h2][p]This week's standout moment took place off the court as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tsitsipas-stefanos/hb6oWfc6/"]Stefanos Tsitsipas[/a] hit back at the criticism from his former coach, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ivanisevic-goran/WhwlIJ6o/"]Goran Ivanisevic[/a], regarding his fitness level, following the Greek tennis star's forced retirement from Wimbledon last summer.[/p][p]Ivanisevic, who won Wimbledon during his own distinguished career, suggested that he was even in better shape than the 27-year-old ace when he slammed Tsitsipas' motivation to keep fit.[/p][p][b]“He has to find a solution for his back issue. I was shocked. I’ve never seen such a poorly prepared player in my life. Me, at my age and with this bad knee, I’m three times in better shape than him,” [/b]the former world No. 2 told SportKlub last year.[/p][embed guid="0f0f0dba-e15a-4519-b197-f66bca7ff2c6" url="https://x.com/TheTennisLetter/status/1950247885611958460" social-type="twitter" /][p]Tsitsipas says that Ivanisevic had no sympathy for the fact that an injury had hampered the Greeks' preparations for the Grand Slam tournament.[/p][p][b]“I didn’t see any point to the criticism. If it was a way of him pushing me into working harder and getting my s*** together, it was definitely not the right tactic. I never expected that a coach could do that to me, and the worst thing is that what he said was not true. It was like he kicked me when I was already down"[/b], Tsitsipas said in an interview with the Times.[/p][h2]Best rallies[/h2][p]Paul eventually won in Houston, but he was put to the test in a gruelling encounter in the round of 16 against Paraguay's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vallejo-daniel/U5RiWEZu/"]Adolfo Daniel Vallejo[/a], who also won this baseline battle with a strong forehand winner. Clay tennis at its best![/p][embed guid="876636b9-e824-494f-8bb4-0321d002d45a" url="https://x.com/search?q=tennis%20tv%20rally&src=typed_query" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/baptiste-hailey/Cjagsdf4/"]Hailey Baptiste[/a] brought the crowd to their feet in her clash with Mexico's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zarazua-renata/6TlRnRze/"]Renata Zarazua[/a] in the opening round in Charleston when she, on two occasions, incredibly managed to stay in the point and eventually turned the tide in her favour in a superb display of on-court resilience. [/p][embed guid="d4bcc58a-e4ab-4add-be6e-81deacac2ee2" url="https://x.com/search?q=tennis%20tv%20charleston&src=typed_query&f=top" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Upcoming events[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alcaraz-garfia-carlos/UkhgIFEq/"]Carlos Alcaraz[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sinner-jannik/6HdC3z4H/"]Jannik Sinner[/a] are the main attractions as the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event of the season takes place in the glitz and glamour of April’s Monte-Carlo. [/p][p]Nine of the current top 10 players in the ATP Rankings have arrived in the Monegasque hide-out for the rich and famous to take part in the tournament from April 5th to 12th in Monaco.[/p][p]After claiming the title last year, Alcaraz will be the man to beat after he fought through three deciding-set victories en route to the trophy. [/p][embed guid="f9bc34a7-e6fa-460d-a4d2-4eaabefb4ae2" url="https://x.com/ROLEXMCMASTERS/status/2040449307342508481" social-type="twitter" /][p]If you want to watch top women's tennis, you will have to travel to the indoor clay courts in Linz this week, where the WTA-500 tournament takes place with a competitive field led by world No. 10 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/andreeva-mirra/lI6fOOat/"]Mirra Andreeva[/a].[/p][p]The top-seeded Russian teenager heads into the tournament boosted by an impressive 11-4 clay court record over the past 12 months.[/p][p]Andreeva will, however, not be short of competition in a draw that features eight seeded players ranked in the top 40 and notable clay-court specialists.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alexandrova-ekaterina/dzbgeEFF/"]Ekaterina Alexandrova[/a], who won the title last year, arrives in Austria on the back of an impressive 13-5 clay record that matches her overall consistency. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/samsonova-liudmila/hIA4C9YT/"]Liudmila Samsonova[/a] and former Roland Garros champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ostapenko-jelena/Gloq9MUN/"]Jelena Ostapenko[/a] are also part of the top four despite recent struggles. [/p][h2]Follow [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/atp-singles/monte-carlo/"]Monte-Carlo[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/wta-singles/linz/"]Linz[/a] with Flashscore![/h2]