Marketa Vondrousova’s preparations for Wimbledon have been given a big boost after she won her first WTA trophy in almost two years at the Berlin Open.
The Czech world No.164 defeated Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu 7-6(10), 4-6, 6-2, after more than two hours of play. Vondrousova saved six set points en route to clinching the opening tiebreak before dropping the second set. However, she bounced back in the decider by breaking Xinyu twice to seal her first title since winning the 2023 Wimbledon championships.
Vondrousova’s triumph comes a day after she stunned world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals. Berlin is just the sixth tournament she has played this season due to injury. The 25-year-old missed the second half of last season due to arm and shoulder surgery. Then at the start of this year, a thigh injury ruled her out of the Australian Open. On top of this, Vondrousova also didn’t play for three months between February and May due to a flare-up of a shoulder problem.
“We were all working really hard to get me back and I felt like we came here to try to win the first match, now this is happening. I’m just very grateful to be standing here,” she said during the trophy presentation.
Vondrousova defeated three top-20 players en route to the Belin title. Besides Sabalenka, she also scored wins over Madison Keys and Diana Shnaider. She is the lowest-ranked player to win the Berlin Open.
Meanwhile, runner-up Wang can draw plenty of positives from her run in Germany. Before losing in the final, she recorded four straight wins over top-20 players, with one of those wins coming via retirement.
“I want to say well done to Marketa and the team. You’ve been playing great tennis and also it’s really good to see you back,” said Wang.
Both players head into Wimbledon unseeded in the draw. The Grand Slam will begin a week on Monday.
