Alexandrova holds on to win second straight 's-Hertogenbosch title

Reigning champion Ekaterina Alexandrova successfully defended her Libéma Open title on a rainy Sunday, going down to the wire before pulling off a gripping 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) comeback over No.1 seed Veronika Kudermetova in the final.

No.4 seed Alexandrova fought back from a set and a break down to collect her 10th straight match-win at the tournament and defend a singles championship for the first time in her career.

Read more: Boulter wins all-British battle to capture first title in Nottingham

Alexandrova also survived an hour-long delayed start, as well as two rain delays during the match, before winning her fourth career Hologic WTA Tour singles title.

Without counting the rain delays, the match took 2 hours and 52 minutes of play -- the longest final of the Hologic WTA Tour season thus far.

Words from the winner: "It was such a joyful moment to be here again," Alexandrova said, after her victory. "But I’m also really tired because it was such a difficult match, and a long day overall.

"I just needed to really leave everything on the court. If [I didn't win], great for her, she played amazing, but at least I’d know I did everything I can. In the end, it finally paid off, and it feels amazing.

"Difficult matches like this, when it’s really tough, and really even, I think it’s really good matches for you to learn [from]. Especially a tiebreak in the third set, you need to stay focused and calm. It’s such a good lesson, and I think it’s going to give me huge experience from that."

Fast facts: World No.26 Alexandrova, who beat Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s final, becomes just the second woman to win back-to-back Libéma Open titles. Former Top 20 player Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand also won consecutive titles at the event in 2008 and 2009.

Alexandrova had won 18 consecutive sets at the Libéma Open before she dropped the first set to Kudermetova on Sunday. However, Alexandrova rallied back from that deficit to remain undefeated at 's-Hertogenbosch over the last two years.

Alexandrova leveled her head-to-head with Kudermetova at 2-2 with the victory. Both of Alexandrova’s wins in their rivalry have come at 's-Hertogenbosch, with Alexandrova also defeating Kudermetova in last year’s semifinals.

Meanwhile, 14th-ranked Kudermetova was unable to capture her first singles title since she won her maiden crown at Charleston just over two years ago. Kudermetova was also contesting her first final in over a year, having gone 0-4 in 2023 semifinals before reaching this week’s final.

Key moments: After inclement weather held up the start for over an hour, Kudermetova jumped to an early 4-2 lead before the match was stopped for a nearly hour-long rain delay. Upon resumption, Kudermetova kept her momentum and led by a set and a break at 6-4, 3-2.

However, Alexandrova cracked a blistering backhand return down the line to break back for 3-3 and flip the script. After a brief rain delay at 5-4, Alexandrova came back on court and broke Kudermetova again to force the match into a decider.

In the third set, Alexandrova held one championship point at 5-4 and two more championship points at 6-5. But incredibly well-placed serves helped Kudermetova get out of those jams, and the pair moved into the decisive tiebreak. There were no service breaks in the third set.

In the breaker, Alexandrova took charge in rallies to edge ahead 4-2 at the changeover, and she garnered three more championship points at 6-3 after hitting her ninth ace of the day. On the next point, a Kudermetova backhand found the net, and Alexandrova collapsed to the grass, a champion once more.

Doubles champions: Japan's Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara claimed the Libéma Open doubles title on Saturday. The No.3 seeds defeated unseeded Slovaks Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova 6-3, 6-3 in the championship match.

Aoyama and Shibahara converted half of their eight break points in the final, easing to victory in 68 minutes and collecting the ninth Hologic WTA Tour doubles title of their partnership.

Overall, Aoyama has won 18 doubles titles in her career at WTA tour-level. All nine of Shibahara's WTA doubles titles have come alongside Aoyama.