4 players who won WTA 500 titles as qualifiers ft. Tatjana Maria
Tatjana Maria pulled off an incredible fairytale run, winning the Queen’s Club Tennis Championships after coming through the qualification rounds. She beat Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 6-4 in the summit clash.
The German, who beat multiple Grand Slam champions en-route to the title, reversed a nine-match losing streak coming into the tournament and has now won seven on a trot.
Maria also joins the list of just a handful names who have come through the qualification draw to lift a WTA 500 (earlier Premier) level title, and here we take a look back at some of those improbable, inspired triumphs.
#1 Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Makarova lifted a WTA Premier level title at the 2010 Aegon International in Eastbourne, just a year after the introduction of the new format in 2009.
The summit clash saw her get the better of Victoria Azarenka 7-6(5), 6-4 and take home a first Tour-level trophy and 500 ranking points no less. She had also beaten the likes of Flavia Panetta, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sam Stousur en-route to the title.
It, however, had all begun in the qualification rounds for Makarova. She had scored three big wins in the qualifiers, starting with a win over Evgeniya Rodina, following it up to take out seeded names Yung-Jan Chan and Sania Mirza to book her spot in the main draw.
#2 Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Pironkova made a name for herself with her exploits at the All England Club, making the semifinal and quarterfinal at the 2010 and 2011 editions of Wimbledon. Her first title, however, came on hardcourts.
Having come into the 2014 season ranked outside the top-100, the Bulgarian entered the qualifiers at Sydney. She beat Ayumi Morita and Maryna Zanevska with ease before being pushed to the limit by Shahar Pe’er in the final qualification rounds, but came through 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3.
That win seemingly ignited a flame within Pironkova, who made the quarterfinals with the loss of only 10 games. She looked dialled in on serve and the sublime backhand, which helped her reel three straight wins over top-10 players Sara Errani, Petra Kvitova, and Angelique Kerber to lift the trophy.
“Mom, Dad, we finally have a trophy,” an emotional Pironkova said in her on-court interview. There was nothing conventional about Pironkova as a tennis player, be it her naturally low-bouncing groundstrokes, a vicious slice and passing shots. Her grabbing a maiden title 12 years after her Tour debut and fresh off a career-worst season then just fit right into the scheme.
#3 Liudmila Samsonova
Liudmila Samsonova’s raw power was one of the Tour’s best-kept secrets. That was until the 2021 German Open.
The tournament, which was being played for the first time at the newly christened Steffi Graf Arena, saw the big-hitting Russian battle into the main draw after besting Ana Konjuh and Noma Noha Akugue. Few, however, would have seen what was to come next.
Samsonova, who had very little experience playing on grass prior to that, started her campaign with wins over Marketa Vondrousova and Veronika Kudermetova. She then outhit one of the Tour’s biggest ball-strikers, Madison Keys, and that is when everyone began to take notice of the ferocity coming from her end of the court.
The Russian would go on to complete the improbable run with wins over Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic. She was rewarded with not only her maiden Tour title but also a last-minute wildcard for that year’s Wimbledon Championships.
#4 Tatjana Maria
Gone are the days of serve-and-volley, slice forehands and dropshot-lob combos. Or are they? Tatjana Maria would have you believe the latter.
Grass has been special for Maria in more ways than one. Not only does the slick, low-bouncing surface give the German the perfect playground for her slicing and dicing, it has also given her a career-best Grand Slam result — her semifinal run at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.
Her run to the title at the Queen’s Club, which saw women’s tennis return to the venue after a 52-year gap, then should make some sense, if at all.
Yes, Maria did not have the raw power of some of her opponents and was on a nine-match losing streak. But when you can serve as well as the German and keep the balls as low on grass as her, things can begin to look up for you.
And that’s exactly what happened at Queen’s. After racing into the main draw, Maira weaved a web of slices, drops, and short angles, all while serving like it’s nobody’s business. And big names fell prey one after the other: Leylah Fernandez, Karolina Muchova, Elena Rybakina, Madison Keys, and Amanda Anisimova.
Such, however, was the feel-good element of Tatjana Maria's first WTA 500 title that even losing finalist Amanda Anisimova sported a massive smile as she congratulated the 37-year-old mother of two for her incredible feat.