Emiliana Arango is proving her success on Mexican hard courts earlier this season was not a fluke after storming into yet another WTA final in this country. About seven months ago, the 24-year-old won 11 matches in a row in Mexico, leading to a 125K title in Cancun and a WTA runner-up finish in Merida.
However, she spectacularly failed to follow up on those results and could not go past the second-round stage at any subsequent tournament until last week's 125K campaign in Guadalajara. The youngster — who went 1-8 from Queen's Club to US Open — found her range with a quarterfinal finish to Kayla Day.
The world No. 86 decided to stick around in Guadalajara for its WTA 500 event and has surged into her second and biggest WTA final. Following the retirement of fifth seed Magda Linette in the first round, she has prevailed over Storm Hunter, qualifier Marina Stakusic and Elsa Jacquemot in straight sets.
Seventeen of her 25 match wins in 2025 have come in Mexico, the country which accounts for three of her five WTA quarterfinal-or-better results. The Colombian will be sufficiently optimistic about her chances for a maiden WTA title, despite her 6-0, 6-0 defeat to Emma Navarro in her first WTA final in Merida this year.
Iva Jovic led the scoreline for most parts of the semifinal clash against wildcard Nikola Bartunkova, but still needed nearly three hours to halt her fellow teenager, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. The 17-year-old won’t care much as she joins a WTA 500 final, having never been to a tour-level quarterfinal before this week.
The American was a well-known name in the junior circuit after peaking at a ranking of No. 2 last year. It did not take her long to establish herself at the professional level as well. She has been to 10 finals of all sorts in her budding career (5-5) and recently lifted prestigious titles at W100 Charlottesville and 125K Ilkley.
Prior to landing in Guadalajara, she had already risen as high as No. 73 in the rankings, with the help of a third-round finish in Cincinnati and a second round at the US Open. The California native has beaten three top-50 players in the last 13 months and is now set to debut in the top-50 herself.
While she had no issues in dispatching eighth seed Camila Osorio in straight sets, the teenager was pushed into three-set marathons in the remaining three rounds. The most challenging match came against Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva in the quarterfinal, during which she fended off a match point in the third-set tiebreaker.
Head-to-head: 0-0. Guadalajara has thrown the most unexpected championship round line-up this week. One of these players will not only get away with her first tour title but would have triumphed at WTA 500 level. Emiliana Arango is older and has more experience, but Iva Jovic will be the oddsmakers' favorite.