Francesca Jones is making a serious habit of winning in Palermo. The Bradford-born Briton successfully defended her Palermo Ladies Open title on Sunday, defeating French seventh seed Fiona Ferro 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) in a captivating final that lasted nearly three hours.
Jones, the top seed throughout the tournament, was ruthless from the outset, wrapping up the opening set in a blistering 21 minutes. Ferro responded with genuine resilience in the second, recovering from 3-0 down to trail 4-3 before stringing together three consecutive games to level the contest. Suddenly, the title defence was very much in the balance.
The deciding set proved to be a tension-filled affair that went all the way to a tiebreak. At 6-5, Ferro had a match point within her grasp but could not convert, gifting Jones the opportunity to close out one of the grittier wins of her career. Jones had dropped only one set across the entire tournament before the final, making the late drama all the more striking.
This Palermo victory was her fourth career Challenger title and, remarkably, her second in just eight days. She had already lifted the trophy at the ATV Rome Open the previous week, underscoring a rich vein of form on clay. Jones reached a career-high ranking of 65 earlier this year and will move from 113 to 110 in the WTA rankings following this latest success.
Reflecting on the final, Jones acknowledged that both players gave everything: "We both deserved to win. It was a close match until the end."
TennisDraw users backing Jones for a deep Challenger run this clay swing will feel thoroughly vindicated after this stunning back-to-back title haul.
