Maria ascends Queens’ throne, Fritz claims Stuttgart crown; Mertens lifts 10th WTA title

Tatjana Maria completed her fairytale run at Queen’s Club as the German qualifier beat American Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 6-4 in Sunday’s final to become the oldest winner of a WTA 500 event.

The 37-year-old’s victory secured the fourth singles title of her career, and her first since 2023 on the clay in Bogota.

World number 86 Maria is the first German to win a WTA 500 title since Angelique Kerber in 2018 in Sydney.

In the first women’s tournament at Queen’s since 1973, Maria is the event’s first female champion since Russia’s Olga Morozova 52 years ago.

When Morozova won in west London, the prize money was just £1,000 ($1,353).

Maria banked a cheque for £120,000 and more importantly earned a huge confidence boost ahead of Wimbledon, which starts on June 30.

The mother of two arrived at Queen’s on a nine-match losing streak and had to survive two rounds of qualifying matches to reach the main draw.

Deploying her slice-heavy style to devastating effect, she stunned sixth seed Karolina Muchova, fourth seed Elena Rybakina and reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys en route to the final.

Maria, who has taken two maternity breaks from the WTA Tour, has never been past the second round of any Grand Slam except Wimbledon, where she reached the semi-finals in 2022.

But once again she proved a formidable force on grass, brushing aside Anisimova to secure her second title on the surface as her husband and young daughters Charlotte and Cecilia watched from courtside.

“A dream come true. I came here I was never thinking I could hold the trophy at the end,” Maria said. Anisimova has struggled to live up to her early success after reaching the French Open semi-finals aged 17 in 2019.

She took an eight-month break from tennis and dropped out of the top 400 after suffering with depression bought on by the scrutiny and expectations that came with being a teen prodigy.

The 23-year-old returned last year and won the Qatar Open this February, reaching a career-high 15th in the rankings before underlining her renaissance by defeating Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen to reach her first grass-court final.

However, Maria was too savvy on grass for Anisimova, who said: Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz claimed his first title of the year with a 6-3 7-6(0) win over top seed Alexander Zverev in the Stuttgart Open final on Sunday, extending his winning streak against the German to five matches.

Fritz, who knocked out Zverev in the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, won the opening set 6-3 in 30 minutes without facing a break point. The American second seed broke for a 5-3 lead after Zverev double-faulted twice and missed a volley at the net.

The second set stayed on serve, with Zverev saving the only break point at 5-5 before Fritz pulled away in a one-sided tiebreak to seal victory. It was Fritz’s ninth career title, fourth on grass, and improved his head-to-head record against Zverev to 8-5.

The 28-year-old Zverev, ranked third in the world, is yet to win a title on grass, a surface he has long struggled on. The three-times Grand Slam finalist has never progressed beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon.

“I’ve had enough, stay away from me. Please don’t come to Germany for the next two or three years,” Zverev said, having lost his third final on grass after losses to Roger Federer in Halle 2017 and fellow German Florian Mayer in Halle 2016.

World number seven Fritz, 27, is set to rise to fourth in the rankings ahead of Wimbledon, which runs from June 30 to July 13.

Elsewhere, Belgian Elise Mertens won the 10th WTA title of her career on Sunday with a straight-sets victory over Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the final of the grass-court event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

The 29-year-old, ranked 20 in the world, secured a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win, saving two set points in the second set before taking a tie-break.

It is Mertens’ second title of the season after victory in the Singapore Open in February.

Agencies