The trophy from the Mexican tournament "Merida Open" will take a special place in Cristina Buksha's collection // Photo: instagram.com
In the singles final, she defeated Magdalena French of Poland in three sets 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. It took Buksha two and a quarter hours to break her opponent’s resistance.
Her partner was China’s Jiang Xinyu, with whom she also won the doubles title. In the final they defeated Isabelle Haverlag (Netherlands) and Maya Lumsden (Great Britain) 6:4, 6:1. The meeting lasted one hour and 18 minutes.
Path to victory
Buxha started the tournament with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory over Donna Vekic of Croatia. In the second round she defeated Marina Stakusic of Canada 7:6 (7:1 on tie-break), 6:3. In the quarterfinals she defeated Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey 6:3, 6:4. In the semifinals, one of the leaders of the women’s tour, world number seven Jasmine Paolini, was defeated. Buxha defeated the Italian in two sets – 7:5, 6:4.
In the first round of doubles, the duo of Buksha and Xinyu knocked Victoria Jimenez-Kasintseva (Andorra) and Valeria Strakhova (Ukraine) out of the tournament after winning 6-1, 4-6, 10-5. In the 1/4 finals they left no chance to Rutuja Bhosale (India) and Makoto Ninomiya (Japan) – 6:2, 6:3. The last “obstacle” in the form of the duo of Katarzyna Peter (Poland) and Janice Tien (Indonesia) was overcome with the score 7:5, 6:2.
Financial support
The prize fund of the tournament in Mérida amounted to $1.2 million, a 13% increase compared to the previous year.
By winning the singles tournament, Kristina Buksha added 500 points to her ranking and earned $185,000. The victory in doubles allowed the tennis player to increase her fortune by another $61,500.
In total, Buxa earned $246.5 thousand at the “Merida Open”. During her career, the Moldovan tennis player earned $4.57 million.
Highest achievement in her career
For the 28-year-old tennis player, this title was the first in her career in singles. Her previous highest achievements were eight trophies in doubles and a bronze medal at the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games in Paris (France), when she was paired with Spain’s Sara Sorribes-Tormo.
At the moment, Buxha is the best tennis player in Spain. After her triumph in Mexico, she rose to 31st position in the WTA singles ranking and 17th in doubles.
She left Moldova at an early age
Cristina Buxa was born in Chisinau on January 1, 1998. When she was three years old, her family moved to Spain. She started practicing tennis at the age of five. She trained at the famous “Center d’Alt Rendiment Esportiu de Sant Cugat” in Barcelona. The main coach of the tennis player is her father Ion Buxa, a former professional biathlete who represented Moldova at two Winter Olympics. Moldova at two Winter Olympics. – in Nagano (Japan) in 1998 and in Salt Lake City (USA) in 2002. He was also the flag bearer of the national Olympic team.
