19-year-old Russian ace Diana Shnaider seals maiden WTA title downing defending champion Zhu Lin at Thailand Open Hua Hin
WTASunday, 04 February 2024 at 14:11
On a Sunday which also sees the Upper Austria Ladies Linz completed, the first champion of the day has been crowned post Australian Open as Russian ace, Diana Shnaider has captured a maiden WTA title at Thailand Open Hua Hin 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
It could be said that despite it being a shock on paper, it has been coming for the 19-year-old who reached the top 60 in the WTA Rankings and a maiden WTA Final in her debut season. It was a fourth career Quarter-Final in this instance and then a second career final, she only lost last season in the championship match to Ons Jabeur in Ningbo.
Like many rising stars, she took the college route placing for NC State for one season before turning pro and perhaps was overshadowed slightly in her first year on tour in terms of Russian stakes by Mirra Andreeva's excellence, but has sealed a title before the 16-year-old.
She is the second teenager to win a WTA title this season and joins World No.3 Coco Gauff in doing so after sealing the ASB Classic in Auckland in January. She saw off Magda Linette, Lin Zhu and Wang Xiyu to seal the title, the top three seeds this week in Hua Hin so certainly had to work for it.
She enjoyed a blistering start to the final taking the opening set after 44 minutes overpowering Zhu on the baseline and took her chances to break. She converted the two break points that she was given and handed Lin Zhu her first set loss of the week. Zhu took advantage of a slip in the form of Shnaider in the second set winning four consecutive games to force it into a deciding set. Bet as is the case with WTA Tennis, it is one extreme to another as Shnaider produced some epic baseline winners and broke earlier not relenting from the baseline as she broke twice for 4-1 and then closed out the win from there 6-1. A superb final win, the first of many?
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
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