Former French Open junior champion Lilli Tagger has broken new territory on the WTA Tour by capturing her first title at the Livesport Prague Open.
The 18-year-old recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the first set to beat eighth seed Daria Snigur 7-6 (3), 6-2. After dropping her opening service game, Tagger didn’t face a single break point for the rest of the match. She won 81% of her first service points and 56% of her second. She is only the second teenager to win a WTA title in 2026 after Mirra Andreeva, who has won three.
“It was just an amazing match. I feel super happy right now. I was a bit tired and nervous at the beginning, but right now I’m just super happy, happy that I turned it around in the first set, and kept going with my way in the second set,” Tagger said afterwards.
“For me, it’s not that easy to start when I’m down in the set, but you know, it can happen. It’s part of the game. So I just told myself, it’s just one break in the end. So I kept fighting, and yeah, I turned it around,” she added.
Tagger, who was the Roland Garros girls champion last year, defeated three seeded players en route to the title. Earlier in the tournament, she beat third seed Sara Bejlek and second seed, as well as former Wimbledon champion, Barbora Krejcikova. Her other wins were over Gao Xinyu and Mai Hontama.
The triumph comes during what has been a rapid rise for the youngster, who was ranked outside the top 500 12 months ago. She broke into the top 100 in April and on Monday will become the youngest woman currently in the top 50.
Besides Prague, Tagger has also reached the final of another 250 event in China last year and a WTA 125 in India in February.
