By Chris Oddo | Tuesday April 19, 2016
Irina Falconi dedicates her victory to Ecuador after the country was struck by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Saturday.
Photo Source: Claro Open Colsanitas
American Irina Falconi bagged her first career title at the Claro Open Colsanitas in Columbia on Sunday, defeating Silvia Soler-Espinosa, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
Pantic: Heavy-Hearted Falconi Plans to donate a percentage of her winner's purse
The American rises 25 spots in the WTA rankings to No. 67 in the world, but she has heavier things on her mind than closing in on her career-high ranking.
Her big day was bittersweet, as her hometown in Ecuador was struck by a natural disaster on Saturday, the day before she won her maiden title.
Falconi, an Ecuadorian American, dedicated her victory to Ecuador in support of the country’s battle in the aftermath of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Portoviejo.
"I got the news the morning of the semifinal match on Saturday. " Falconi, who lived in Ecuador until she was four and returned last year for the first time in over a decade, told Courtney Nguyen of WTATennis.com. "We have a Whatsapp group with over 100 family members and we started getting a bunch of messages and I didn't know what to think at first. I was trying to focus on the match. But my mom couldn't get a hold of my dad. It was really scary. There's no wi-fi, there's no light, there's no water. And it just happened to be my birthplace, my hometown, where I grew up for three years, that was the most affected."
"The last 24 hours we've just been praying constantly for all the families and the children - I knew there's a lot of people who've been killed already. We're sending over a lot of prayers."
Falconi is sending more than prayers. She set up a page where people can donate and pledged to match the donations up to $5,000.
The 25-year-old, born in Portoviejo, was playing in her first career final. She rallied from a break down in the final set to defeat Soler-Espinosa, taking the final three games of the title match.
The earthquake’s epicenter struck her hometown, and her childhood home was leveled, but none of her relatives in the area were hurt.
“It’s definitely been a bittersweet kind of thing because after I won everybody was asking, ‘How do you feel about Ecuador,’” Falconi said. “How am I supposed to feel? It’s awful. It’s tough to really say, ‘Oh my gosh, I won a WTA title,’ when there’s people dying. So it really puts it in perspective.”