Solana Sierra (right) poses with Czech Lucie Havlickova after losing the junior final of Roland Garros. (Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP)
Solana Sierra’s dream in Paris lacked a final chapter to complete. The Argentine fell in the junior final at Roland Garros against Czech Lucie Havlickova 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 13 minutes of play. Beyond the tears at the end of the duel at Simonne Mathieu’s court, nothing about her will take away the satisfaction of having lived a brilliant week in the second Grand Slam of the season.
In a very close match, the 17-year-old from Mar del Plata, true to her style, was always aggressive and took deep risks with her right hand. So she got 17 winners during the duel, but she paid dearly for her 35 unforced errors. A double foul condemned with a long serve ended up giving the title to her rival, seeded ninth and also a finalist in her double together with compatriot Sara Bejlek.
Despite this defeat, Sierra, 575th in the WTA rankings, completed a truly exceptional tournament, in which to reach this instance he had left the Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova (fourth-seeded in the competition) on the road, the Belgian Hanne Vandewinkel, the French Yaroslava Bartashevich (16th), the American Liv Hovde (6th) and the Czech Nikola Bartunkova (13th).
Solana Sierra had left four seeded on the road to reach the final in Paris. (Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP)
The Mar del Plata player, who trained at the Telefónica club in his hometown, was the sixth Argentine player to play a final on Parisian clay. Gabriela Sabatini (1984), Patricia Tarabini (1986), Inés Gorrochategui (1991), Paola Suárez (1992) and María Emilia Salerni (2000) had already done so. Of them, only Sabatini and Tarabini managed to raise the trophy.
Sierra is the greatest promise of women’s tennis in South America and this year she made her debut in the Argentine team in the Billie Jean King Cup (the old Fed Cup) with four wins against Colombian Yuliana Lizarazo, Brazilian Laura Pigossi, Guatemalan Melissa Morales and the Mexican Marcela Zacarías.
He had come a long way before that. She was the best Argentine player in the sub-12, sub-14 (she was South American champion) and sub-16 categories. Additionally, she has been awarded a scholarship to tour Europe and compete with the best players in the world of her generation. From there she began to grow by leaps and bounds.
Solana Sierra greets Lucie Havlickova after the Czech’s victory in the junior final at Roland Garros. (Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP)
Towards the end of 2018 he captured his first WTA point at Villa del Dique, beating Argentina’s Candela Bugnon in the first round, but his big breakthrough was in 2019. He won two titles in J5 tournaments, one in Lambare (Paraguay). ) and another in Córdoba. she, in addition to having reached the semifinals at the W15 in Buenos Aires and appearing for the first time in the world rankings, on 21 October, in 1,148th place.
After the interruption imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, in 2021 he played the final in the Lambare J1 and made the semifinal in Porto Alegre. Then, in late May, she reached the semifinal for the first time in an ITF Women’s Circuit event at the W15 in Santa Margarita de Montbui.
Source: Clarin
