History was made today, as for the first time since 1973 a women’s champion was crowned at Queen’s.
On one side of the net – Tatjana Maria. The 37 year old German has had a tremendous week at Queen’s. Her journey started here in the qualifying stages, since then she has gone on to knock out some of the tournament’s highest seeds in Karolina Muchova, Elena Rybakina and semi-final opponent Madison Keys.
On the other side of the court – Amanda Anisimova. The young American has also played some of her best tennis over the last week, making her first grass court final. Anisimova has also had a considerable run against some seriously tough opponents, beating top seed Qinwen Zheng in the semi-final, and compatriot and third see Emma Navarro in the quarters.
Another wonderfully sunny day set the scene for this momentous occasion in West London. Throughout the Championships, it has been the slice shot of Maria that has been causing her opponents so many problems. Today was no different in that regard, as she continued to execute this weapon with great success. This combined with her ability to seemingly get everything back, meant Maria looked somewhat formidable out there today.
The German stormed through the first set, looking confident and very focused out on Centre Court. As the second set got underway and Anisimova conceded an immediate break of serve, the American did start to look like she was letting her head drop. On the other hand, Maria was serving so well, it almost seemed like she was getting every first serve in. The crowd did their bit to pick Anisimova up and this seemed to help as she battled with huge intensity in a really long and gruelling game on Maria’s serve; however, in a game of 7 deuces, she was unable to convert either of her 2 break points. Maria went 3-1 up.
Tatjana Maria held her nerve brilliantly to serve the match out and come out the 6-3, 6-4 winner. This is a remarkable result, coming off a nine match losing streak before last Saturday. The win takes Maria from her 86th ranking into the top 50, and etches her name in history as the first women’s champion at our Club in 52 years!
Congratulations to both players, and everyone involved in making the last week here so special!
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