Harriet Dart beat Lilli Tagger to win her first WTA Tour title at the Guangzhou Open
Dart, who saved three match points in her semi-final win over Sun Xinran to reach her first Tour-level final, edged a thrilling match against the 18-year-old from Austria 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Qualifier Dart, the British No 5 who is coached by former Wimbledon champion and Sky Sports analyst Marion Bartoli, dropped serve in the opening game and had to save a break point in her next service game before finally getting on the board.
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The 30-year-old from Hampstead broke back for 4-4, but Tagger hit straight back before wrapping up the first set.
The first break point of the second set came the way of Dart, who took it for 5-3 on her way to levelling the match.In a tense deciding set, a run of five consecutive breaks of serve ended when gutsy Dart saved two break points to hold for 5-3.
In the next she brought up two championship points, but a big Tagger serve saved the first before Dart netted a mid-court forehand on the second.
However, Dart wiped that miss from her mind to serve out the match to 15, falling on her back in delight when victory was sealed with an unreturned serve.
She said on court: “I’ll try not to get too emotional. A big thank you to my team this week. My boyfriend Stephen [Falck], my fitness coach, but also the people at home. My coach Marion, really appreciate all your hard work, but also my family, my parents and my sister Phoebe.
“It’s amazing to play in front of such a big crowd. It’s been so much fun here and I really appreciate it and hope to be back next year.”
Tagger vs Dart: Tale of the Tape
Dart’s victory lifted her back into the top 100 of the WTA rankings at world No 83.
An established member of the GB Billie Jean King Cup team, Dart is also a talented doubles player – having won one WTA 250 and two WTA 125 titles.
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