Linette ends Tjen's Chennai reign to win first title since 2024

Magda Linette has won the Chennai Open, four years after losing the final there from a winning position. The Polish third seed came back from a set down to beat top seed and defending champion Janice Tjen 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 on Monday after 2 hours and 43 minutes. It is her fourth WTA title and her first since 2024.

The final was scheduled for Sunday but was pushed back a day. Rain and heavy smoke from Diwali fireworks over the SDAT Tennis Stadium made play impossible, and Tennis Majors also cited severe air pollution in the city.

Comeback after Tjen takes the first set

Tjen had arrived in the final with a perfect record in Chennai: nine wins from nine matches, including last year's run to the title. She kept that momentum going by winning a close first set 7-5. After that the match turned around. Linette took control of the second set and won it 6-1, then held her nerve in a tense decider to close out the final.

The numbers show how well Linette handled the pressure. She saved 11 of the 13 break points she faced. Tjen made five double faults to Linette's one, according to Tennis Majors.

Coming from a set down was nothing new for Linette this week. It was the third match in a row in which she did it. In the semi-finals she beat Anastasia Zakharova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Her tournament also began with the longest WTA main-draw match of the season, a 3 hour 33 minute win over Aliona Falei, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2. Across five matches she spent more than twelve and a half hours on court.

Making up for 2022

The title means a lot to Linette because of what happened in Chennai in 2022. Seeded third that year as well, she led Linda Fruhvirtova 4-1 in the third set of the final and lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. This time she finished the job.

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It is her first trophy of the 2026 season and her first since Prague in 2024, where she beat compatriot Magdalena Frech 6-2, 6-1 in the final. The 34-year-old picked up the trophy in the final weeks of the WTA calendar.

No title defence for Tjen

For Tjen, losing the final hurts. Her title in Chennai last year made her the first Indonesian woman to win a WTA singles title since 2002. Returning as top seed, she came within one set of defending it. Instead, her record in WTA finals falls to one win and two defeats, and she ends the week still without a title in 2026.

The doubles title at the Chennai Open went to Switzerland's Naïma Karamoko and Simona Waltert. In their first title as a team, they beat India's Vaishnavi Adkar and Rutuja Bhosale 6-2, 6-0, ending the home crowd's hopes of a local champion.