Ajla Tomljanovic will return to the top-100 for the first time since her injury return after winning her second career WTA 125 title in Hong Kong.
Tomljanovic came from a set down in the final to defeat Danish No.6 seed Clara Tauson 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The 31-year-old Aussie overcame world No.78 Anna Blinkova in the semi-final in three sets. Blinkova had earlier beaten two-time grand slam champion Simona Halep and American world No.8 Emma Navarro.
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In humid conditions, Tauson won the first set off the back of her only break of the match, which she won seemingly out of the blue at 5-4. Tomljanovic was up 40-15 before a couple of errors and a couple of massive Tauson winners flipped the script.
Ajla Tomljanovic is on the cusp of breaking the top-100 after winning a 125 title in Hong Kong. Instagram
In the break between sets, Tomljanovic made a slight adjustment which seemed to prove the difference. She didn’t face a single break point in the second or third sets.
A knee injury kept her on the sidelines for much of 2023, which saw her ranking plummet well outside the top-500.
This victory will see her climb to No.86 in the world rankings – the highest it’s been since August 2023. She’s only two places behind top-ranked Australian women Arina Rodionova, who lost to Halep in the first round.
Tomljanovic won her maiden 125 title in Florianópolis, Brazil, last November.
She will next play in the WTA 1000 event in Wuhan, China. Her first match is against Spanish world No.15 Paula Badosa on Tuesday afternoon (AEDT).
Elsewhere, Coco Gauff won her second title this season with a lopsided 6-1, 6-3 victory over Karolina Muchova in the final of the China Open.
Aged 20, the sixth-ranked American became the youngest China Open champion in 14 years. She is also the second American champion in Beijing, following Serena Williams’ title runs in 2004 and 2013.
“Honestly, it means a lot when I saw that the last American woman to win this was Serena Williams,” Gauff said.
“Anytime my name is mentioned in whatever sentence hers is, it’s a huge honour.”
It was Gauff’s eighth career title. She improved her record in tour finals to 8-1 and has now a 7-0 record in hard-court finals, a feat never achieved before in the Open era.
– With AP
