Lois Boisson of France collected another milestone in her breakthrough season by winning her first Hologic WTA Tour singles title at the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open on Sunday.
In a battle between two first-time Hologic WTA Tour singles finalists, No. 5 seed Boisson defeated No. 7 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary 7-5, 6-3 in the WTA 250 clay-court final. Boisson was down breaks in both sets, but battled back on each occasion to triumph in straight sets.
“It’s really tough to win a tournament, so when we did it, I’m really happy with that,” Boisson said after her win. “Just happy, and I hope it will continue like this.”
A season of firsts: Boisson, of course, came onto the global radar when she stormed into last month’s Roland Garros semifinals as a wild card in her Grand Slam main-draw debut. Ranked No. 361 at the time, she set numerous records with her run and became the top-ranked Frenchwoman immediately after that result.
Boisson followed up by losing her first qualifying match at Wimbledon, but back on clay, she has returned to her winning ways. Currently ranked a career-high World No. 63, she will improve that placement in Monday’s updated PIF WTA Rankings.
Match moments: In Sunday’s final, 77th-ranked Bondar got off to a hot start, zooming ahead by a double-break at 4-0. Bondar was hoping to retain her Hamburg crowns — she won the singles and doubles titles last year when it was a WTA 125 event.
Bondar served for the set at 5-2, but she was unable to close in that game, and Boisson took full advantage. Boisson pulled back on serve at 5-5, then avoided a late stumble by saving three break points to hold for 6-5. The Frenchwoman wrapped up her first-set comeback with another service break, winning the last five games in a row.
Valeria Witters/MSC Hamburg Ladies Open
In the second set, Boisson hit one of her 10 double faults to give Bondar the early break at 2-1. However, the Frenchwoman deployed a deft dropshot winner to earn a love break and pull back on serve at 3-3.
Incredible defense by Boisson helped her scrape through a mesmerizing rally to break for 5-3. Serving for the championship, Boisson used some strong deliveries and power plays to fend off a break point in the last game and grab her first WTA title.
Doubles result: Later on Sunday, Bondar came back for the doubles final, where she was trying to defend her WTA 125 title from 2024. Bondar and Kimberley Zimmermann won the WTA 125 Hamburg doubles title last year.
However, No. 1 seeds Nadiia Kichenok and Makoto Ninomiya squeaked past Bondar and Arantxa Rus 6-4, 3-6, [11-9] to take this year’s title.
Kichenok and Ninomiya were down double championship point at 9-7 in the match-tiebreak, but they won the next four points to prevail.