Diana Shnaider won her maiden WTA championship on grass, defeating Donna Vekic 6-3 2-6 6-3 in the Bad Homburg Open final on Saturday, just days before making her Wimbledon singles main draw debut. In an exciting opening set, Russia’s Shnaider made a brilliant start to lead 3-1 before Croatian Vekic’s strong returns forced her to work hard to hold every serve.
Shnaider saved two break points as she led 5-2 after seven deuces before the Russian could hold. Her next serve was similarly a hard fight, with Vekic saving three set chances, but Shnaider rallied from seven break points and struck an ace to take the set.
Vekic had the momentum going into the second set, and she immediately got her first break of the match to go 2-0 up before breaking again to send the contest to the final set.
The third set started on an even keel, with both players breaking early, but the 20-year-old Shnaider remained composed under duress, breaking Vekic’s serve twice in a row to seal victory.
“Very glad I was able to play one of the best weeks of my life… I hope I can keep going like this,” Shnaider said as she lifted the tournament’s elephant-shaped trophy, her second career title.
“What a match you played… you really deserved the title,” Vekic said to Shnaider after losing her second WTA final on grass. “I got the small (elephant) this time and next year we will come back for the big one.” Vekic will play Wang Xiyu in the first round of Wimbledon on Monday, while Shnaider, who was eliminated in the qualifiers last year, will face Karolina Pliskova.