Pica powers to first WTA title

Strasbourg (France), May 25 (IANS) Puerto Rican No.1 Monica Puig won her first WTA title Saturday, beating Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa in the final of the Strasbourg International.

Puig, whose tweets often include the hashtag #PicaPower, went into the match ranked 56, and is considered a rising star of the WTA circuit. She took just one hour and 10 minutes to see off the 118th-ranked Spaniard 6-4, 6-3. Both players were contesting their first ever WTA final, reported Xinhua.

Puig's serve proved all-powerful during the match. The Puerto Rican not only held all nine of her service games, she gave up a total of just nine points on her delivery, and two of those were double faults.

The two now turn their attention to Roland Garros where Puig faces a tough first round match against Australia's Samantha Stosur, ranked 20th, while Soler-Espinosa takes on South Africa's Chanelle Scheepers.

Puig had previously won six singles titles on the ITF circuit, but Strasbourg represents a major step forward in the 20-year-old's career. In Friday's semifinal she defeated another rising WTA star, American Madison Keys, also in straight sets. Puig is also the first Puerto Rican player ever to win a WTA title.