WTA125 Antalya III: Solana Sierra vs Leyre Romero Gormaz final analysis

The rare feat of defeating a lefty almost exclusively from the AD side

Apr 11, 2025

Three weeks of non-stop action at Antalya’s Megasaray Tennis Academy concluded with Solana Sierra (WTA #147, seed 8) beating Leyre Romero Gormaz (WTA #157) 6-3, 6-4 to conquer her first career WTA 125 trophy.

The win gave Sierra her highest-level title to date and extended her unbeaten streak in championship matches to 10, dating back to September 2023. All those finals were played on clay, so it is clear that the 20-year old Argentine, also a Roland Garros Junior runner-up in 2022, is at her best on the red dirt. Now up to a career-high ranking #119, Sierra will look at the Spring clay swing as an excellent opportunity to crack the Top-100 for the first time.

Unlike Sierra, who only traveled to Antalya for the third event, Romero Gormaz played in all 3 Turkish WTA 125s. Even though it’s inevitable to feel bittersweet about finishing runner-up twice — lost the first week final to Anca Todoni — the Spaniard’s time in Antalya must be considered a success. She won 8 matches, reached her 2 biggest career finals so far and finally moved inside the Top-150 for the first time after hovering around it for the past 3 years, following a 3-week jump from #155 to #124.

Match analysis

The Antalya III final offered something that is not often seen: a right-handed player beating a left-handed opponent at the lefty’s own game.

Southpaws can be difficult to play against because of the different angles they create, especially on slice serves and hooking crosscourt forehands through the AD side that end up straining a right handed’s backhand.

But that was far from a problem for Sierra against Romero Gormaz because:

Sierra finished with a higher win-rate when forced to hit a backhand return

The Argentine won 59% of return points after hitting a backhand return, 7% better than when she struck a forehand return.

Sierra return points won

Forehand return: 52%, 11 of 21
Backhand return: 59%, 20 of 34

Against the (theoretically) more difficult lefty 1st serves to deal with, she won 4 of 6 (67%) points started with a Deuce side T serve and 4 of 7 (57%) points started with AD side wide sliders (marked by green and yellow circles, respectively).

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Sierra accomplished the rare feat of beating a lefty with groundstrokes almost exclusively hit from the AD side

As you can see below, 18 of Sierra’s 21 baseline winners and 7 of her 9 baseline forceful shots were struck from the AD side (gold box, on the left).

Sierra’s point-winning (court on the left) and point-losing shots (court on the right). Ball direction is from bottom to top.

Some of those were run-around forehands but the bulk of Sierra’s winning shots were backhands she kept firing down the line.

In total, Sierra produced 17 line backhands that won points while making just 4 unforced errors (marked by green box in table below).

It was the shot of the match, by a long mile!

Intended direction of groundstroke winning shots (= winners+forcing shots) and unforced errors. Returns and volleys/overheads are not included. Down-the-line is considered broadly and includes more central shots that remain on the same court half.

Sierra’s down the line backhand also shone at crucial stages of the final. Here are a few of those big points:

A backhand winner to seal the first set

📺 source: WTA Unlocked

A pair of winning backhands at 4-4 in set 2 to secure the decisive break

During the last game of the match — that developed into a 10-minute, 4-Deuce tussle — a first Sierra backhand line winner avoided a 0/40 hole, a second one erased a break point and, fittingly, the third backhand winner of the game clinched the title

Overall, there was a 13-point gap (+1 to -12) between backhand performances created by Sierra’s myriad of winners (15 to 6).

There was also a small gap (3 points) between forehand performances that was generated by Romero Gormaz’s errors, in particular a surplus of 5 unforced errors (22 to 17).

Forehand Performances

Sierra: 10 winners / 23 errors = -13
Romero Gormaz: 11 winners / 27 errors = -16

Backhand Performances

Sierra: 15 winners / 14 errors = +1
Romero Gormaz: 6 winners / 16 errors = -12

Solana Sierra (WTA #147, seed 8) vs Leyre Romero Gormaz (WTA #157)

2025 Antalya III final - Match Data

Set by Set Stats

Strategy Stats

Points Won by Rally length

Rally length

Strokes Breakdown

* Scores calculated according to: Winner +1; Forcing Shot +0.5; Unforced Error -1; Forced Error -0.5

Serve and Return

2nd Serves

Return & rallying performance

Point-winning (court on the left for each player) and point-losing shots (court on the right for each player). Ball direction is from bottom to top.

Forehand point-winning (court on the left for each player) and point-losing shots (court on the right for each player). Ball direction is from bottom to top.

Backhand point-winning (court on the left for each player) and point-losing shots (court on the right for each player). Ball direction is from bottom to top.

Points won breakdown

This final section gives a last, broader look at the match by presenting how each player won points. Points are listed according to their frequency (highest to lowest) and are named in relation to the last touch on the ball. For simplicity, groundstrokes hit from the 5th shot onwards are grouped together.

Breakdown by side (FHs or BHs)

Points won with winners are highlighted in violet. Points won due to opponent’s errors are highlighted in grey

Breakdown by error type (UFEs or FEs)

To find out more about the stats published here, please visit the following post.

While we follow the same criteria used on all major tennis events, our stats are collected through our own video analysis and are not official WTA or ITF stats.

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— Tennis Inside Numbers

Tennis Inside Numbers