Listen: Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
The Spaniard is coming in hot!
Sometimes, things sneak up on you. In this case, the aforementioned "things" is No.42 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain. The 22-year-old has quietly made the Round of 16 or better in her last three tournaments.
If you were kind of a jerk, you'd ask, "So what?"
If I were definitely a jerk, I'd snap back, "Well those three tournaments just happen to be WIMBLEDON, TORONTO and CINCINNATI, THAT'S WHAT."
But you aren't a jerk and I am only kind of a jerk, so I will simply state matter-of-factly that this seems pretty impressive!
I caught up with Bouzas Maneiro after she booked her spot in the fourth round of the Cincinnati Open with wins over Venus Williams, Leylah Fernandez, and Taylor Townsend. She won them all in straight sets, and this comes a week after she made her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Montreal. She lost to eventual champion Victoria Mboko, which basically means she probably won a Grand Slam at some point in the last few years, we're just forgetting which one. She's now closing in on a new career high ranking in the Top 40.
Listen to the quick chat below:
She gets a crack at World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday in Cincy, where she's trying to snag her second Top 10 win of the year. Her first came over Emma Navarro in the first round at Roland Garros.
This was the first time I've ever spoken to Bouzas Maneiro and I was surprised to hear her English sound more like Brazilian Portuguese rather than the Spanish I'm used to. She sounded more like Beatriz Haddad Maia than Paula Badosa or Garbiñe Muguruza.
So a quick little internet research and voila: She's from Galicia, Spain, where, if I understand correctly, they speak both Spanish and Galician, which has roots in Portuguese.
So yay me for noticing!
Reading is fundamental and shit:
