LIZETTE Cabrera hopes her outstanding performance at the Mildura International Tennis Pro Tour event can help set her up Grand Slam qualifiers later this year.
The 27-year-old from Townsville did not drop a set across the tournament played in mostly scorching conditions, culminating with the number one seed claiming a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Japan’s Chihiro Muramatsu in Sunday’s women’s singles final.
It’s the ninth ITF tournament singles title for the current world number 282, with that ranking set to increase, and her second in as many events following the Launceston International just two weeks prior.
Cabrera stormed into the lead and within less than half an hour she had completed the perfect set, winning 6-0.
Muramatsu showed a lot more fight in the second set, with the left-hander saving multiple match points, but Cabrera’s powerful striking ensured she took the honours without dropping a set across the tournament.
The Queenslander said she relished playing in the heat.
“This time last year I wasn’t feeling this confident and it’s been a while since I’ve won back-to-back titles so I’m really grateful I’m playing good tennis and feeling healthy,” she said.
“I love the heat, the hotter the better for me, so I didn’t need to adjust too much, but we did a training week at Kooyong in Melbourne just to get adjusted to the grass.
“I’m edging closer to French Open qualifying, every match from here counts to that, and if I can set myself up well at Swan Hill and a couple of tournaments in Japan I’ll be looking pretty good for Europe.
“In the past I’ve put a ranking goal on what I want to do, but I really just want to win as many matches as possible, and I’d love to qualify for and hopefully win a couple of matches at Wimbledon, that’s my ultimate goal.”
Cabrera also paid tribute to her coach Shannon Nettle for helping rediscover her form.
“I feel like in this sport it’s so individual and you really need to find the right team to help, and I feel link ‘Stinger’ has done a really good job in helping me get from a dark place to a point where I feel like I’m playing really confident and free tennis and I’m excited for the rest of 2025,” she said.
In Saturday’s semi-final, Cabrera had a rematch of the Launceston International and the same result was delivered via a 6-3, 7-6 win over Japan’s Sakura Hosogi.
At the end of the first set, Cabrera had conceded just 13 games across the tournament compared to her 42 wins, but Hosogi was not going to make it easy on the top seed.
Despite Cabrera winning the first two games Hosogi equalised and then took the lead 5-4, but was forced into a a tie-break, with the top seed getting it done 7-3.
Muramatsu had to fight hard to defeat emerging star Laquisa Khan in Saturday’s semi final, securing the her passage to the big match 7-6, 6-3.
Khan skipped out to an early lead after winning the opening three games of the set, but Muramatsu ensured it went to a tie-break that she won 7-5.
The Japanese player’s first serve accuracy proved the difference in the second set, nailing almost 80 per cent of her first serves compared to Khan’s 54 per cent, which also included three consecutive double faults in the second game.
It was still level at three-all before Muramatsu put her foot down, conceding just five points in the next three games to take victory.
Next for the players is the Swan Hill International which begins this week.
