![\"2025_Luxembourg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025_Luxembourg-Legends_Grand-Duke_Kremer_Minella.jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nFour months after giving birth to her second child, former World No.1 Angelique Kerber delivered on debut at the Luxembourg Ladies Tennis Masters, edging newly retired Aliz\u00e9\u00a0Cornet in Sunday\u2019s title bout 1-6, 6-3, 10-7.<\/p>\n
Along her way, Kerber also posted wins over defending champion Kirsten Flipkens in the quarterfinals and Barbora Strycova in the semis. For her part, Cornet, also making her first appearance at the event, had beaten Anett Kontaveit in the semifinals. She advanced to the last four when Kim Clijsters sustained a worrying Achilles injury in their opener.<\/p>\n
Rounding out the eight-woman field at the Coque arena this year was Eugenie Bouchard, who was edged by Strycova in an entertaining quarterfinal that went the distance, and Anabel Medina Garrigues, who was dispatched by Kontaveit.<\/p>\n
For 25 years, Luxembourg played host to a popular stop on the WTA Tour, earning the loyalty of players, who enjoyed the intimate atmosphere. The list of champions grew to include six former World No.1s — among them Clijsters, who captured the WTA 250 title a record five times.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Luxembourg Ladies Tennis Masters\n <\/p>\n
By 2022, tournament director Danielle Maas and her team at International Women\u2019s Tennis Promotion were keen to build on this legacy but using a different format — and the current eight-woman, competitive prize money exhibition was conceived.<\/p>\n
Appropriately enough, Clijsters reigned in the first edition held that year, defeating Martina Hingis in the final. In 2023, Kontaveit beat Andrea Petkovic for the crown and last year\u2019s final saw Flipkens conquer Hingis.<\/p>\n
Fast earning a reputation as a hot ticket not only for fans but also stars keen to maintain their form into retirement, the Luxembourg Ladies Tennis Masters has evolved over its four stagings into a weeklong showcase of WTA role models and the principles established by Billie Jean King more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n
![\"2025](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-LLTM_Group-selfie_Credit-Daniela-Hantuchova.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Daniela Hantuchova\n <\/p>\n
Before the action got underway, Daniela Hantuchova, who serves as a special ambassador for the event, participated in \u201cLet\u2019s Talk,\u201d a panel discussion with business, entertainment and civic leaders.<\/p>\n
Hantuchova said: \u201cI feel blessed, because I feel that I come from a platform — which is the WTA, women\u2019s tennis — where I\u2019ve been so privileged to work and do what I love in an environment where opportunities are pretty equal. We\u2019re getting to a stage where prize money is almost equal.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur sport is very fair in that way. What you give, is what you get back — no matter your size, your looks, your color, your gender, where you come from. As a woman, I think when we focus on ourselves — and being the best versions of ourselves — that\u2019s when equality happens naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the week, Hantuchova also conducted podcast interviews with both Kerber<\/a> and Bouchard<\/a>, while Petkovic was expertly deployed as on-court emcee and interviewer.<\/p>\n In its fourth staging, the legends invitational has developed its own traditions and once again, the sentimental Jana Novotna Award was presented at a gala dinner before action got underway. For the first time, the recipient wasn\u2019t tennis royalty — instead, the honor went to Luxembourg\u2019s retiring Grand Duke Henri, who abdicated the throne in favor of his eldest son, Guillaume, earlier this month.<\/p>\n Luxembourg\u2019s own WTA alumnae Anne Kremer and Mandy Minella helped present the award, which recognizes individuals who demonstrate special commitment to women\u2019s tennis, just like the much-loved Czech star did during her lifetime. For many years, the Grand Duke\u2019s frequent tennis outings have been emblematic of wider community support for the WTA in the Grand Duchy.<\/p>\n Kerber\u2019s victory resulted in a winner\u2019s check of \u20ac50,000 from a total purse of \u20ac100,000. The German star later confirmed her intention to defend her title in 2026.<\/p>\n “So nice to be back on court, feeling the thrill of a match again — and being welcomed with so much warmth here in Luxembourg,\u201d she wrote on Instagram. \u201cAlso quite fun to switch from my full-time mom job to part-time tennis player for a few days.<\/p>\n \u201cGrateful, happy, and already looking forward to what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Adam Lincoln<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four months after giving birth to her second child, former World No.1 Angelique Kerber delivered on debut at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-213841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}