MSC Hamburg Ladies Open •Final •
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If you thought Loïs Boisson’s early exit in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying was a harsh return to reality – think again. The Frenchwoman bounced back in style by winning the WTA 250 Hamburg tournament on Sunday. It was only her second appearance in a main draw at Tour level, the first being her stunning semi-final run at Roland-Garros just six weeks ago.
Boisson’s meteoric rise in women’s tennis is showing no signs of slowing down. To date, Coco Gauff remains the only player who has managed to neutralise her explosive forehand and fierce competitiveness. Aged 22, she will be in the Top 50 at the WTA rankings on Monday. She was No. 361 two months ago.
Seeded No. 5 in Hamburg, Boisson overcame No. 7 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary in a tense clay-court battle. After trailing 0-4 in the opening set, she found a way to shift the match’s momentum in her favor, ultimately securing a 7-5, 6-3 victory in 111 minutes.
Boisson’s slow start
Down 5-2, the Frenchwoman raised her level, clawing back to 5-all with the help of some beautifully executed drop shots. She kept the momentum going and snatched the first set 7-5, though she appeared to be struggling physically. She has been playing in recent days with an apparent injury to her left thigh.
At the start of the second set, Loïs Boisson fell back into the same difficulties that had troubled her early in the match. Quickly trailing 3-1, she once again leveled the score before overtaking Anna Bondar on the scoreboard at 5-3. All that remained was to close out the match, which the Frenchwoman did calmly, converting her first match point.
After a hard-fought win (6-4, 6-7 [3], 6-4) in nearly three hours of play against Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch (ranked 163rd) on Thursday, Loïs Boisson followed up with convincing victories over Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova (No. 105, 6-3, 6-3) and Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska (No. 39, 6-1, 7-6 [5]).
She’s the first French player to win a WTA trophy on the main stage since Caroline Garcia in 2022. “Reaching this level so quickly is very impressive”, Bondar said on court, before breaking into tears. “It was not the trophy I was dreaming of.” Bondar had defeated the Top seed Ekatarina Alexandrova in the quarterfinals (6-7 [1], 6-3, 7-6 [4]).
