Blinkowa too strong
Too bad! Tagger loses her first WTA final
Lilli Tagger lost her first final on the WTA Tour on Sunday. The 17-year-old from East Tyrol had to concede to the Russian Anna Blinkova 3:6, 3:6 after 100 minutes in the final of the WTA250 tournament in Jiujiang, China.
Nevertheless, Tagger can be highly satisfied with her debut on the WTA Tour. She made full use of her wild card, moved up 80 places to 155th and also collected her biggest prize money cheque to date of 21,484 US dollars.
Break series at the start
The match began with tough baseline duels and a series of breaks. It was not until 36 minutes into the match that Tagger was the first player to break serve to make it 3:2. And only after fending off four break points and a service game lasting around 15 minutes. But it was to be Tagger's last game of the set, as she had to surrender her serves to make it 3:4 and 3:6. Blinkova, who is ten years older, proved to be a more compact player and was less prone to errors.
Enormous potential
In the second round, Tagger was unable to capitalize on any of her three break points in the third game. The young East Tyrolean, who has been training with Francesca Schiavone in Italy since November 2023, repeatedly showed her enormous potential, both with her superb one-handed backhand and with her serve. She then went up to 4:3 with the service, when Tagger was unable to capitalize on a total of seven chances to make it 4:4 and conceded the decisive break to make it 3:5. She was able to fend off the first match point in spectacular fashion, but then Tagger's journey in China was over.
On her way to the final, Tagger had celebrated victories over the top 100 players Elisabetta Cocciaretto (89th) and Viktorija Golubic (53rd), among others. Alongside the US American Iva Jovic, who is ranked 35th, she is the only U18 player in the top 160.
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