Quevedo Claims Maiden WTA Crown in Sao Paulo

Kaitlin Quevedo, who grew up in Naples and plays for Spain, beat Nadia Podoroska in three sets to win the WTA 250 event and will move into the world top 100.

Twenty-year-old Kaitlin Quevedo captured the first WTA title of her career on Monday, topping Argentina's Nadia Podoroska 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the Sao Paulo final. The clay-court championship match had been set for Sunday before wet weather pushed it back a day. The win lifts the Naples-raised player, who competes under the Spanish flag, into the world's top 100 for the first time.

The path to the trophy included straight-set wins over her opening three opponents and a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 semifinal defeat of fourth seed Anna Blinkova. Quevedo trailed Podoroska, a former Roland Garros semifinalist ranked No. 317, by a set in the final before turning the match around.

Quevedo attended Community School of Naples and, as a freshman in 2021, went unbeaten through the regular season while placing second in Class 1A in both singles and doubles at state. She later switched to virtual schooling to train at Naples' Gomez Tennis Academy, and at 15 she took the USTA Girls' 16 National Clay Court singles crown in Huntsville, Alabama.

She arrived in Sao Paulo holding a 36-10 tour mark and a No. 105 ranking, on a season that included a wild-card victory over Venus Williams at the Madrid WTA 1000 and a maiden Grand Slam win in the Roland Garros first round. Next up are the Billie Jean King Cup finals in Shenzhen with Spain, followed by qualifying at the WTA 1000 in Beijing.