SÃO PAULO – Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa made a splash at the Sao Paulo tournament, and at the same time dealt a blow to the competition: with her 7-6 (7-5) and 6-3 victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia, she left the Brazilian tournament without its local star.
‘Now I want to win the tournament,’ Zarazúa told CLAY on a cold night at the WTA 250 in Sao Paulo, the biggest tournament in South America.
Zarazua, 27 and ranked 79th in the world, achieved a major success three weeks ago at the US Open by defeating local player Madison Keys, the seventh seed. Her victory today over the top seed in Sao Paulo, ranked 27th in the WTA, is a continuation of that.
‘Losing in the second round of the US Open, in the third set tiebreak, cost me a lot, and the only thing I said was I’m going to learn from this and I’m going to try to do better in the next match I play, wherever it is, to play aggressively, to be brave.’
‘I think today, at times, I said, “I’m afraid of losing,” and then I said to myself, “No, no, I’m going to be brave and learn from the fact that I was afraid last time and lost.” It could have gone the other way, but I think I did what I had to do at the decisive moments.’
Zarazúa will face France’s Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, who defeated Hungary’s Panna Udvardy on Friday, for a place in the final on Saturday.
‘I don’t know her very well, it will be the first time I’ve played her, but I’m going to try to focus on my game, on what I’m doing, on what’s working for me, and I hope I can do well.’
The Mexican chose to play the 250 in Sao Paulo instead of the WTA 500 in Guadalajara, in her own country.
‘Mexico is very high altitude and I have a little health problem, my blood pressure rises a lot at high altitude and I don’t feel well physically. The tournament knows this, I had to explain it to them, because for me playing in Mexico is… I have to play. But I respect my health, so I decided to come here.’
