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Irina Falconi did not know what to expect when she arrived in Bogota, Colombia for the Claro Open. Ranked No.92, the former Georgia Tech standout had lost seven of her last eight matches and she was about to play in tricky conditions on her least favorite surface, clay.

Then after advancing to the semifinals without dropping a set, the Ecuadorian-born American woke up on Saturday to the news that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake had torn through Portoviejo, Ecuador, the very city in which she was born. Somehow she was able to focus on the tournament and beat two clay-court stalwarts in Lara Arruabarrena and Sílvia Soler Espinosa to win her first 1st career title and boosted her ranking back up to No.67.

After the match, Falconi dedicated the win to the victims and survivors in Ecuador, but she’s vowed to do more.

WTA Insider spoke to Falconi on Monday. No surprise here: It’s been a difficult few days for the Falconi family.

Insider: How surprised are you that your first WTA title was on clay?
Falconi: Yeah, I’m pretty surprised. It’s funny because when people ask me what my favorite surface is I always say grass, and then hard court. To be the first American to win this tournament is pretty exciting.

I knew that coming in I had points to defend, which is a weekly struggle. I knew it was going to be tough with the altitude. There were going to be some challenges going there. It was more emotional. I wouldn’t say it was surprising because I know I put in the work to succeed on the court. But I would say it was just emotional.

Insider: At what point during the week did you think “Hey, I’m playing well. I could win this?”
Falconi: I think I thought that maybe at the first Championship Point. I knew that Lara Arruabarrena in the semis was going to be tough. I know Catalina Pella was going to be tough in the quarterfinals. She had just beaten the defending champion. I knew she was playing well. Then Sherazad Reix was going to be tough. She gets a lot of balls back and she can be tough being a lefty. And in the first round, as a 15 year-old you can come out and just swing away. My whole mentality the entire week was every single point. Be present at every single point. That really helped me.

I still couldn’t believe it after I won. It took three match points. There are still moments when I’ll be – like today I was walking through the airport, and I’m like ‘Oh wow, that’s really cool that happened.’

Insider: How different are the conditions in Bogota? You have the altitude but it’s also clay. It must be a very unique court.
Falconi: After 11 days being on it I can probably play on it now (laughs). I hit a drop shot the first day that ended up being a lob. That gives you an idea of what we’re dealing with. A kick serve can go over your head. You try and lob someone and it could end up in the stands. But both players have to deal with it.

Insider: I’m always curious about how players put together their schedules. Why did you choose to play Bogota?
Falconi: I won two matches there last year. I lost to Elina Svitolina in a really tough match. I knew I could play on the surface and in the conditions.

Honestly, I had a pretty crappy couple of weeks before that. I think I maybe won just one match in five weeks. So I thought, ‘Ok, let’s try and get some matches and get some momentum going.’

Insider: Tennis players lose pretty much every week. How do you stay positive when you’re stuck in a rut and your form isn’t delivering the results you’re after?
Falconi: At the end of the day you’re a week away. You’re a week away from getting your mojo back, cracking the Top 100, getting into a main draw at a Slam. You’re one good week away from hitting your career high. My coach and I always say, you need five good weeks out of the whole year to be Top 100. Five good weeks. Then you have a few ok weeks, and then you have 10 bad weeks, and you can be Top 100 in the world.

Above all you have to have that mentality that it does take a few matches until you can find your rhythm. You never know what could happen. If you would have told me a few weeks ago that this would happen, that I would win this, I would have been like “Right, sure, have you seen my record this year?”

Insider: Are you the type of person who finds it easy to stay positive? Or do you skew negative?
Falconi: It can get extremely tough if you allow it to. If you ask anyone I try to stay super positive. I’ve dealt with friends, players, co-workers I guess who are in the same boat as me, they’re toxic sometimes because they’re so negative.

It’s just a matter of instilling in your own mindset and other people’s mindset that I understand what you’re going through but you have to see it in a positive. Obviously it’s hard to stay positive after losing four first rounds in a row. But at the end of the day if you just continue chipping away and you know what you’re doing is good, it all pays off in the end.

Insider: You were born in Portoviejo, Ecuador, which was one of the most heavily affected cities in the earthquake. You still have a lot of family there. I believe after the match that your father was actually in Ecuador when the earthquake hit on Saturday?
Falconi: He actually happened to leave just the day before it happened. A good chunk of my family is still there. A lot has been affected by everything but thankfully there have been no casualties. The house I was born in that I happened to see for the first time last year, is gone. It’s been really bittersweet because at the end of the day, ‘Oh yay you won a tournament,’ but people are dying.

It’s really tough because people are asking me what message I have for the people there and…what can I possibly say to them? Obviously I’m sending so many prayers and my team and I are looking to see how we can donate and help the victims and families over there. At the end of the day all you can do is continue praying and hope everyone is ok.

I understand there are a lot of people who have lost loved ones. It’s been really tough, to be honest. I spoke with a few family members and they can’t stop crying. How am I going to be gloating [about a title] around that?

I won a title but believe it or not I’ve been really low key about it. One of my friends Shelby Rogers asked me how things are going over there. It puts everything in perspective. Oh you won a WTA tournament. Then you talk to someone and they just lost their home where they’ve grown up all their life. It’s just been bittersweet to say the least. There’s been a lot of angst and, to be honest, there’s no right way how to act.

Insider: How did you find out about the earthquake and how hard was it to focus on tennis?
Falconi: I got the news the morning of the semifinal match on Saturday. 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.

Insider: You said you’re working through some ideas on how to help the victims and survivors in Ecuador. Do you have a sense of what you want to do yet?
Falconi: I’m still working through it with my family and my team. I’d just ask people to keep tabs on me and I’ll announce what I plan to do donation-wise and how people can help.

Follow Irina on Twitter @IrinaFalconi.

Editor’s Note: Falconi has created a donation page to raise money for the Ecuador Earthquake relief effort, and shared the following details on her Twitter account:

Hey guys, as you know I’m raising money to be donated for Ecuador Earthquake relief…

— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016

The goal is $5,000 but I'm willing to match the total donation number, up to $5,000!…

— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016

Also, the highest single donation will receive the shoes and racquet that I used to win the WTA title in Bogota…

— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016

THIS IS THE LINK TO DONATE MONEY FOR ECUADOR EARTHQUAKE RELIEF! https://t.co/aiDFjjOoVP
Please share and know that every bit helps <3

— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016

 – All photos courtesy of Claro Open Colsanitas

ISTANBUL, Turkey – The last first round match of the day ended in an upset as Andreea Mitu sent the No.2 seed Yanina Wickmayer crashing out of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, 7-5, 6-4.

Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Ranked No.113, Mitu doesn’t often play on the center court, but at the Garanti Koza Arena she didn’t allow the setting to intimidate her.

“It was strange for me to play on such a big court,” the Romanian said. “I am not that used to it so it feels different, but I am confident on clay.”

Mitu and Wickmayer stayed locked into a tense first set despite the No.2 seed bringing up two break points early on. It was Mitu that drew first blood at 6-5 to Wickmayer’s mounting frustration. The Romanian was about to serve for the set when the match was temporarily suspended while the roof closed due to rain. The delay did nothing to improve Wickmayer’s mood, and Mitu quickly took the first set.

Despite finding her composure to start off the second set, Wickmayer was broken twice in the third game and soon found herself facing match points with Mitu serving up 5-3. The Belgian was able to fight them off and stay alive in the match, but the Romanian took the match at her second opportunity to move into the second round.

“It was a good match, even though I never played her before and I struggled at the beginning,” Mitu said after the victory. “My forehand was not working that well, I made a lot of unforced errors so I need to improve that for my next match.”

Mitu moves on to play a familiar opponent: Swiss player Stefanie Voegele, who advanced 6-2, 7-5 over Turkish wildcard Ipek Soylu.

“I know Stefanie pretty well, we practiced together the other day,” Mitu said. “I expect I tough one!”

No.4 seed Kirsten Flipkens overcame a spirited start from Donna Vekic, fighting through exhaustion to make her way into the second round, 7-6(5), 6-4.

“It was a tough one,” Flipkens said afterward. “After Fed Cup it´s very hard because it takes a lot of energy playing for the team. Even though it´s Wednesday I am still pretty tired but I am very happy that I pulled it off.”

Flipkens goes on to play Kateryna Kozlova in the next round. The Ukrainian advanced past Alexandra Dulgheru in a tight three sets, emerging victorious 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-1.

Also into the second round are Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari, who backed up her upset of top seed Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova with a win over Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3, 6-4, and No.5 seed Danka Kovinic.

Who isn’t a fan of hazelnut spread? USANA brand ambassador Alizé Cornet shared with us her favorite recipe for her favorite pre-match snacks – and you only need three ingredients to make it at home.

Watch the video above to see how Cornet makes her special banana sandwich.

Here’s everything you need:

USANA is the Official Vitamin & Supplement Supplier of the WTA, and over 170 Athletes – including 8 out of the Top 10 and 15 out of the Top 20 use USANA products. Former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur, Eugenie Bouchard, and Madison Keys are among several USANA ambassadors, and 2016 marks the 10th Anniversary of the USANA-WTA partnership.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari notched the biggest win of her career in the first round of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, knocking out the No.1 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets for her first ever Top 50 win.

Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

No.34-ranked Schmiedlova, who was playing as the top seed at a WTA event for the first time, was looking to reverse a disappointing run of form that has seen her win just one WTA match in 2016.

Meanwhile, the on-the-rise Sakkari has been knocking on the door all year, coming within a few points of a breakthrough twice previously. At the Australian Open, she made it through qualifying to reach the second round in her first appearance at the event, where she pushed the No.10 seed Carla Suárez Navarro to three sets. At the San Antonio 125K event she struck again, coming within two points of knocking out top-seeded Daria Gavrilova.

In the red clay of Istanbul’s Garanti Koza Arena, it seemed like Sakkari would be made to wait again; Schmiedlova quickly broke Sakkari’s serve in the first game, then consolidated comfortably for a 2-0 lead.

But instead of shrinking away, the 20-year-old qualifier turned up the pressure, varied the pace of her heavy groundstrokes and rattled off six straight games to take the set and leave the top seed reeling. Schmiedlova managed to get on board in the second set, but it wasn’t enough as Sakkari continued to attack the Slovak’s vulnerable second serve – she didn’t win any second serve points in the first set and only three all match long. Sakkari closed the match winning 6-2, 6-3.

“It´s the best win of my career. I am so happy,” Sakkari said after the match. “I like playing in Turkey. It feels like home here, people make me feel very welcome. I’m looking forward to my next match and hope to continue to play well.”

Sakkari will go on to play Hsieh Su-Wei in the next round. The Taiwanese player defeated Karin Knapp, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-1.

No.8 seed Johanna Larsson also advanced to the second round after a stern challenge from Ukrainian qualifier Maryna Zanevska, who took her to within one point of defeat, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5). Zanevska held two match points while serving at 6-5 in the third set, but Larsson broke her to send the match into a tiebreaker, emerging victorious after a tense two hours and forty minutes.

Local favorite Cagla Buyukakcay cruised against Russian qualifier Marina Melnikova, winning 6-3, 6-3 in her opening match. She commemorated the win by delighting the crowd with a quick post-match hitting session, signing dozens of autographs and, of course, taking several selfies.