Dart's dream Guangzhou run ends with maiden WTA title

British qualifier Harriet Dart capped her dream week by winning her first career singles title on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz at the age of 30. She defeated Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger in three sets in the Guangzhou Open final on Sunday.

Tagger opened the match with a break of serve to lead 2-0 and maintained her advantage to take the first set 6-4. The second set stayed on serve until Dart broke in the eighth game and then served out the set 6-3 to force a decider.

The final set featured five breaks of serve, with Dart securing the decisive one in the seventh game. She missed two match points on Tagger’s serve in the ninth game but held her own serve to close out the 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in 2 hours, 18 minutes.

It was Dart’s sixth three-set win in seven matches, including qualifying, on her way to the title this week. She came from 5-7, 2-4 down to defeat Cheuk Ying Shek in the first round of qualifying and rallied from a set down in each of her final three matches.

The Brit had never reached a singles final on the WTA Tour before this week. She defeated Tatiana Prozorova, No. 2 seed Janice Tjen, No. 5 seed Paula Badosa and 16-year-old wild card Sun Xinran (saving matchpoints in that win) to reach the final. The victory over Tagger marked her fifth Top 100 win in tour-level matches this year, with three coming this week.

The victory also avenged her loss to Tagger in the final of the ITF W100 event in Fujairah earlier this year. Dart is projected to return to the top 100 in the world rankings next week.