Turkish star Zeynep Sönmez surged to victory against American Ann Li, winning 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday to claim the first WTA title of her career in Merida, Mexico.

At just 22 years old, Sönmez made history as the first Turkish player to lift a WTA trophy since Çağla Büyükakçay's triumph in Istanbul in 2016.

Ranked 127th in the world, Sönmez dominated the match, needing only 70 minutes to defeat Li, a former top-50 player now ranked 111th.

Sönmez gained her third break of the opening set for a 5-2 lead and pocketed the set after 42 minutes.

She broke Li three times in the second set, winning the last six games to polish off the dominant victory.

"It was one of my biggest dreams. I've been working for this day for 15 years," said Sönmez, who also thanked "the people who saw me in Turkey at four in the morning."

Both players pulled double duty on Sunday after rain delays on Saturday.

Li completed a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Polina Kudermetova in their rain-delayed semifinal, while Sönmez rallied from 4-2 down in the first set to beat 17-year-old Alina Korneeva 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 in her semifinal.