Britain's Harriet Dart defeats Lilli Tagger to take home her first WTA title at the Guangzhou Open on Sunday; You can watch the ATP Paris Masters live on Sky Sports from Monday November 2
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Harriet Dart beat Lilli Tagger to win her first WTA Tour title at the Guangzhou Open.
Dart, who saved three match points in her semi-final win over Sun Xinran to reach her first Tour-level final, edged a thrilling match against the 18-year-old from Austria 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Qualifier Dart, the British No 5 who is coached by former Wimbledon champion and Sky Sports analyst Marion Bartoli, dropped serve in the opening game and had to save a break point in her next service game before finally getting on the board.
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After qualifying for this year's main draw, Dart defeated Tatiana Prozorova, No 2 seed Janice Tjen, No 5 seed Paula Badosa and 16-year-old wild card Sun Xinran to make her first career WTA Tour final Before this week, her best Tour-level finish had been a semi-final run at 2024 Cluj-Napoca, losing to eventual champion Karolina Pliskova Dart has risen from world No 115 to 83 in the live rankings; this time last year was ranked No 224. She reached career-high ranking of No 70 in September 2024
The 30-year-old from Hampstead broke back for 4-4, but Tagger hit straight back before wrapping up the first set.
The first break point of the second set came the way of Dart, who took it for 5-3 on her way to levelling the match. In a tense deciding set, a run of five consecutive breaks of serve ended when gutsy Dart saved two break points to hold for 5-3.
In the next she brought up two championship points, but a big Tagger serve saved the first before Dart netted a mid-court forehand on the second.
However, Dart wiped that miss from her mind to serve out the match to 15, falling on her back in delight when victory was sealed with an unreturned serve.
She said on court: "I'll try not to get too emotional. A big thank you to my team this week. My boyfriend Stephen [Falck], my fitness coach Dario, but also the people at home. My coach Marion, really appreciate all your hard work, but also my family, my parents and my sister Phoebe.
"It's amazing to play in front of such a big crowd. It's been so much fun here and I really appreciate it and hope to be back next year."
Her father is Nick, mother is Susie, sister is Phoebe She was introduced to tennis aged seven by her parents at the club they met at Cumberland LTC Supports Arsenal She splits her time between Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and London Dart is dating Norwegian model Stephen Falck, who is also now her agent. Falck is a model and software engineer from Norway
Dart's victory lifted her back into the top 100 of the WTA rankings at world No 83 and should ensure direct entry into the Australian Open, which runs from 11-31 January at Melbourne Park.
The Brit is next in action at the Chennai Open in India where she has been drawn to face Russian-born Uzbekistani Polina Kudermetova in the first round.
An established member of the GB Billie Jean King Cup team, Dart is also a talented doubles player - having won one WTA 250 and two WTA 125 titles.
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In Tokyo, Russia's Diana Shnaider overcame a second-set collapse to beat Canada's Leylah Fernandez 6-4 5-7 6-2 and claim the Pan Pacific Open title in Tokyo.
Shnaider eased through the first set but looked in trouble after relinquishing the second and had to defend three break points early in the decider, before going on to clinch victory in two hours and 18 minutes.
The 22-year-old has now won six straight finals on the WTA tour.
"I want to say thanks to and congratulate my coach, who is here with me, for achieving our first title this season," Shnaider said.
"It definitely means a lot, a great achievement and great finish of this season."
Fernandez, who won the Singapore Open in September, was playing in her second straight final, after losing to world No 1 Elena Rybakina at the Ningbo Open last week.
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Source: Sports
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