Qualifier Dart, 30, beats Tagger to win first WTA title in Guangzhou

Harriet Dart has waited a long time for this one. On Sunday the 30-year-old Briton won her first WTA Tour singles title, coming from a set down to beat Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Guangzhou Open.

Dart started the week in qualifying. She is the first qualifier to win the Guangzhou title since Li Na took the inaugural edition in 2004, and she is the tournament's first British champion. She also becomes the sixth British woman since 2000 to win a WTA singles title, joining a group that includes Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal.

Another comeback

Dart had come from behind in three earlier matches this week, and she had to do it again in the final. Tagger, the fourth seed and world No. 53, broke Dart's opening service game and went 2-0 up, then held that edge through the first set.

The second set was tight on serve until Dart broke at 5-3. She served it out to love to force a decider. The third set was full of breaks. Dart broke three times and Tagger broke back twice. Tagger saved two championship points before Dart finished it on her third with a serve down the T. Across the match she converted five of her eleven break points, according to Tennis Majors.

"A big thank you to my team this week," Dart said at the trophy ceremony.

The result also turns around the pair's previous meeting. Tagger had beaten Dart 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the W100 event in Fujairah earlier this season, so their head-to-head now stands at 1-1.

A hard road to the trophy

Dart beat Tatiana Prozorova in the first round, then second seed Janice Tjen, fifth seed Paula Badosa in the quarter-finals, and 16-year-old wildcard Sun Xinran in the semi-finals. Against Sun she saved three match points. Tennis Majors calculated that she had spent nine hours and 27 minutes on court before the final even began.

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Before this week her best tour-level result was a semi-final at Cluj-Napoca in 2024, where she lost to Karolina Plíšková. Her career-high singles ranking is No. 70, set in September 2024.

Back in the top 100

The title brings a big jump in the rankings. Sky Sports reports that Dart will rise from No. 115 to No. 83. A year ago she was No. 224, and this will be her first time back in the top 100 since November 2024. According to Sky Sports, that ranking also secures her direct entry into the main draw of the Australian Open in January.

Tagger, 18, falls just short of a second WTA title after her win in Prague earlier this year. She was also the first Austrian to reach the Guangzhou final. "Congratulations to Harriet, she absolutely deserved this title. We're 1:1 now, I'm looking forward to next time," the 2025 Roland-Garros junior champion said, according to ORF. She has little time to recover: Tagger is the second seed at the WTA 250 event in Chennai, which starts on Monday.