Francesca Curmi to face Cristina Bucsa in maiden WTA 250 tournament

Francesca Curmi will contest world no. 81 Cristina Bucsa after progressing into the main draw of the Palermo Ladies Open in her first foray into a WTA 250 tournament. In qualification Curmi cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory against wildcard Giada Di Paola in the first round, following which she was narrowly defeated by Tessah Andrianjafitrimo in three sets, 6-4; 3-6; 7-5, but will progress into the main draw nonetheless.

WTA 250 Palermo Open

The tournament is currently under way in Palermo and it is just three tiers below the level of a Grand Slam, superseded by the WTA 500 and WTA 1000 tournaments. Qualification is needed by lower ranked players, which is split into two knockout rounds. Getting through the qualification stage pits these players into the main draw.

The main draw features several top-ranked players who automatically qualify, including world number 10 Daria Kasatkina, world number 25 and Palermo Open 2021 winner Qinwen Zheng, world number 75 Martina Trevisan and Italy’s current number 1 Elisabetta Cocciaretto. 

Curmi’s Qualification Matches

Curmi Fires Past Di Paola in Opening Round of Qualification

It was the first encounter between Giada Di Paola and Francesca Curmi, but there was not much of a contest on display on Saturday night with the top ranked player, Curmi, dominating both sets. Di Paola opened the match on serve and Curmi pounced on a break in the opening game, before holding serve comfortably. 

The opening two games set the tone for the match. Curmi broke twice more to convert all three break point opportunities. On the contrary, Di Paola did not manage to capitalise on her chance, enabling Curmi to secure the opening set 6-0. 

The Italian opened on serve in the second set and Francesca Curmi raced to a 15-40 lead. Staring down the barrel of another two break points, Di Paola saved both to earn a deuce. However, she could not deny the Maltese a third time who broke immediately once again. Curmi continued her ruthless streak, breaking twice more without facing any break point. At 5-0, it was Curmi’s turn to serve out the match. Though Di Paola appeared to maintain some interest at 40-15, Curmi remained unfazed to secure the victory in an emphatic 6-0; 6-0 win. 

The Thriller Between Andrianjafitrimo and Curmi in Round 2 

On Sunday Curmi faced French player Tessah Andrianjafitrimo. Despite the latter currently having a lower ranking, the French player was ranked as high as 139 in the world this time last year, has six ITF titles to her name and featured in the main draw of the French Open last year too. The twenty-four year old set up the tie by defeating the number two seed Katarina Zavatska 6-4; 6-1 in the first round of qualification.

Andrianjafitrimo Takes Opening Set Despite Curmi Comeback

Curmi was the one getting things going on serve and Andrianjafitrimo wasted no time, securing a double break and holding serve comfortably to open a 4-0 lead. However, Curmi forced a momentum shift by getting on the scoreboard in the next game, before securing a decisive break to love, reducing the gap to 4-2. Despite this Andrianjafitrimo clawed a break back, but at 5-2 she stuttered to close out the set on serve. Curmi cancelled two set points and secured the break to extend the set, before holding serve to love to 5-4. However, the French player wasted no time with the second opportunity, and at 40-30 capitalised on her set point to secure the set 6-4. 

Curmi Levels Things in the Second

The Maltese was determined to open the second set with a hold and in fact erased a break point before getting herself on the scoreboard. The two kept up pace until 2-1, with neither able to break. However, Curmi earned two break points on Andrianjafitrimo’s next service game, who handed it over with a double fault, 3-1.

Despite this, the French player broke straight back to 3-2. However, Curmi maintained the break advantage in the following match to extend the lead to 4-2. From then on both players held serve, which saw Curmi take the set 6-3 with the third set point, and thus force a deciding set. 

The Decider

It was the French player that got things going in the third set, and both players held without facing any break points until 2-1. Curmi was first to get tested by two break points, but she cancelled both before holding serve to level things at 2-2. A couple of straight breaks and holds followed in the next two games, which kept things even to 4-4. 

At this point Curmi broke once more to nudge forward 5-4, and thus earned the chance to serve out the match. However, Andrianjafitrimo was not about to bow out so quickly. She raced to a 0-40 lead, thus earning the comfort of three break points. Though Curmi cancelled one, the French broke back with the next point to extend the set. From then on, it was Andrianjafitrimo all the way. She secured the hold, before breaking Curmi’s serve to seal the game 7-5, the match and therefore certain qualification to the main draw. 

Into the Main Draw

Following a tough start against Andrianjafitrimo, Curmi was indeed very close to punching a certain ticket to the main draw. However, the French player had other plans and made sure to continue her trajectory back into the top 200 of the world. It was the closest of encounters, and despite not winning the match Curmi will enter the main draw as the lucky loser, where she will face Spaniard Cristina Bucsa.

Bucsa is still searching for a maiden title on the WTA tour but has four ITF titles to her name. Her best result in a Grand Slam came earlier this year, where she made it to the third round in the Australian Open. She was defeated by world number one Iga Swiatek 6-0, 6-1.

Tessah Andrianjafitrimo will face fellow qualifier Nuria Brancaccio today. The match between Cristina Bucsa and Francesca Curmi will be played on Tuesday.