Golubic defeats Sramkova in Jiujiang to win first title since 2016

Viktorija Golubic snapped an eight-year title drought with a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of No.2 seed Rebecca Sramkova in the Jiangxi Open final to lift her second Hologic WTA Tour trophy.

The 32-year-old's previous tour-level crown came in Lausanne in 2016, a title run that made her just the second Swiss woman to win a WTA title on home soil (following Manuela Maleeva at Geneva 1991) and lifted her into the Top 100 for the first time. Five years later, Golubic enjoyed a career-best season in 2021, a year in which she reached the Lyon and Monterrey finals, won the Saint-Malo WTA 125 and made her Grand Slam quarterfinal debut at Wimbledon. The following year, she reached her career high of No.35.

Golubic has spent most of the past two seasons ranked below No.70, though, and had slumped to No.168 this week after failing to win consecutive tour-level matches since the Australian Open. But, having become the lowest-ranked WTA champion of 2024 so far, she will be close to a Top 100 return after her Jiujiang bounce-back.

Persistence pays off: "Feels incredible," Golubic said afterwards. "Persistence has paid off, and I'm really proud I've stayed on tour for that long and to be at that level for that long. I've worked hard to be at this level and even if we win or lose, or get titles or not, we still have the belief. We keep on going, we have our goals. It's a very intense lifestyle, but it's not going to be forever to be an athlete. So I'm enjoying it as much as I can, and I hope in my last year or years or however long I will play, I will get more highlights."

Match management: Sramkova's front-foot tennis garnered her several remarkable highlights throughout the contest -- as early as the third game, she pulled off a tweener en route to winning one of the best points of the match. But Golubic had not lost to the Slovak in three previous meetings, and was better able to manage the scoreboard throughout. An edgy opening game from Sramkova gave Golubic an immediate lead, and her one-handed backhand and exquisite touch on the drop shot enabled her to break again for the opening set.

Sramkova's confidence this autumn has been high after the 28-year-old reached her first WTA final in Monastir, then backed it up the following week by claiming her maiden title in Hua Hin. The World No.53 appeared on the way to a comeback after coming through a marathon 11-deuce game, saving five break points, to hold for 3-1 in the second set. But Golubic responded by winning eight of the next nine points to level at 3-3, then breaking Sramkova again in the final game.

"She played three finals in one month, so I knew it was going to be really tough to play her," said Golubic. "She has such big swings and has such easy power. I knew even if I was leading I had to stay there, because she can turn round matches really quickly and she's in great shape."

Guo, Uchijima claim doubles title: Unseeded first-time pair Guo Hanyu and Moyuka Uchijima edged No.4 seeds Katarzyna Piter and Fanny Stollar 7-6(5), 7-5 to claim the doubles crown. The Chinese-Japanese duo saved one match point en route to defeating wild cards Feng Shuo and Wang Meiling 1-6, 6-2, [12-10] in the first round, and saved one set point in the first set against Piter and Stollar.

The title is Guo's third WTA doubles trophy following Guangzhou 2023 (with Jiang Xinyu) and Monterrey 2024 (with Monica Niculescu), and Uchijima's first tour-level crown in either discipline.