BERLIN: Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova needed three sets to subdue Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu on Sunday and win the Berlin Open title, completing an improbable run to her first trophy since her London triumph two years ago.

The 25-year-old Czech, who had dropped to 164th in the world after an injury-plagued 12 months, was playing her first final since winning Wimbledon in 2023. She was made to work hard for a 7-6(10) 4-6 6-2 victory and even had to save six set points in the tight first-set tiebreak.

Her win comes a week before the start of Wimbledon where Vondrousova will now be a force to be reckoned with. “Nice to see a full crowd. I really enjoyed the tennis week and the support,” the Czech said after winning her third career title.

“Congrats on a great week, you played an amazing match,” she said, addressing Wang. “It was an amazing week we had everything we needed. “I feel like it could not have been better for us here. We were all working really hard. We came here to try and win the first match. So very happy,” Vondrousova added.

Wang, who had to battle through the qualifying process and then beat four top-20 players to reach her first-ever tour final, kept causing problems with her pinpoint accuracy as she fired repeated baseline winners. Vondrousova’s serve looked unbreakable until Wang earned her first break point in the seventh game, breaking Vondrousova who slipped and hurt her ankle on that point.

But the Czech came back to snatch the tie-break after the 23-year-old Wang had wasted six set points. The 23-year-old showed few nerves in her maiden singles tour final and levelled after breaking her opponent once in the second set.

But Vondrousova, who beat Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the first round and world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals in Berlin, raced back with two breaks of her own to go 4-1 up in the decider. She then played a perfect service game at 5-2, with a superb dropshot, a crosscourt backhand winner and a powerful forehand that forced an error by Wang on matchpoint number one.

Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev reached his first ATP Tour final for 15 months as he outlasted Germany’s world number three Alexander Zverev 7-6(3) 6-7(1) 6-4 at the Halle Open on Saturday. The Russian former world number one could have spared himself some overtime had he not let three match points slip in the second set, but he eventually got the job done in just under three hours.

“I am happy with my level, I played great,” Medvedev said. “I would have loved to finish on the match points (in the second set). The first one I went for it and missed it. The second one I went a bit slower to wait for a mistake and he made a great point. I am happy to win in the end.”

Medvedev, who now has a 13-7 career record against Zverev, will play either Alexander Bublik or Karen Khachanov in Sunday’s final where he will seek his 21st Tour-level title. He needed treatment for a nosebleed at 4-4 in an intense first set but was gifted the first-set tiebreaker as Zverev offered up a clutch of unforced errors.

Zverev was broken at the start of the second set but clawed his way back and then saved three match points when serving at 5-6 before holding serve in an extended 12th game to set up a tiebreak in which he played some precise tennis.

Medvedev quickly regrouped though and was the dominant player in the decider. Whatever the outcome of the final, he will return to the world’s top 10 on Monday. — Reuters