Viktorija Golubic (WTA 168) won her second title on the main circuit at the age of 32.
The Zurich native, who remained in three lost finals at this level (Linz 2016, Lyon 2021 and Monterrey 2021), dominated the Slovak Rebecca Sramkova (WTA 53) 6-3 7-5 in 1h51′ in the final in Jiujiang on Sunday.
This title is just as unexpected as the first, won on the clay court of Gstaad in July 2016 when she was 23 years old and ranked 105th in the world rankings. The 2021 Olympic doubles runner-up had won just six matches in total on the WTA Tour in 2024 before the start of this week.
Golubic knew how to seize his chance, taking advantage of the retirement of the No. 4 seed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the round of 16. But she didn’t steal anything, snatching her ticket to the last four in 3h25′ at the expense of Arantxa Rus (WTA 83) before crushing the 49th player in the world Marie Bouzkova 6-1 6-2 in the semi-final on Saturday.
A striking setback
The Wimbledon 2021 quarter-finalist also showed off her varied tennis, notably with this one-handed backhand that she can cover or slice wonderfully, Sunday in the final. Rebecca Sramkova (28), who was also aiming for a second title, made too many unforced errors to have a better outcome.
The Slovakian, however, raised her level of play at the start of the second set, signing her only break of the day to lead 2-0 then 3-1. But Viktorija Golubic quickly found all her bite to reverse the trend and win six of the last eight games of the match.
The click in quarter
Viktorija Golubic, who also has three WTA 125 titles (the equivalent of the ATP Challengers) to her name, will find herself around 105th place in the world thanks to her Chinese coronation. She left the top 100 in mid-October, even finding herself beyond the top 160 for the first time since January 2016.
The turning point certainly happened on Friday, in a quarter-final with an improbable scenario. Viktorija Golubic found the resources to defeat Arantxa Rus 7-6 in the third set. Such an outcome seemed very improbable after she had missed two match points at 5-4 in a final set where she led 5-1.
/ATS
Swiss
