Russia’s Maria Timofeeva went from lucky loser to Hungarian Grand Prix champion, taking the title in her first WTA main-draw appearance with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 victory over Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine.
Timofeeva, 19, lifted the trophy not long after losing in a qualifier for the event. She got into the main draw anyway and never looked back, winning her title match in 2 hours, 6 minutes.
“This is all very new to me, and it feels like a dream, because normally I shouldn’t be here, but here I am,” the No. 246-ranked Timofeeva said during the trophy presentation. “I’m just so happy and thankful.”
In winning the opening set, Timofeeva took the final four games after saving three break points to hold at 3-3. No. 100 Baindl won the second set by breaking Timofeeva’s serve at 2-2. But Timofeeva decisively won the third set after breaking Baindl’s serve in the opening game.
The last player to win a title in their WTA main-draw debt was Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia at Bali in 2001. The last player to win a title as a lucky loser was a 15-year-old Coco Gauff in 2019 at Linz.
34 Palermo Ladies Open
No. 2 seed Qinwen Zheng of China battled past fifth seed and home-crowd favorite Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to win her first tour-level title Sunday in Italy.
Zheng fired five aces, overcame seven double faults and saved five of eight break points to win the final in two hours, 14 minutes.
Zheng, ranked No. 26 in the world, became the 11th woman from China to win a WTA singles title. Paolini came up short in trying to become the fourth Palermo champion from Italy.
–Field Level Media
