Qualifier Tatjana Maria reigns in Queens’s Club, defeats Amanda Anisimova in finals

From qualifier to Queen: Tatjana Maria capped an improbable week at the HSBC Championships with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Amanda Anisimova.

The world No. 86 is poised to cut her ranking in half after following up upsets over Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys to win the biggest title of her career in 83 minutes on Sunday.

“I enjoyed every second here,” Maria said in her champion’s speech. “Everyone made this so special.”

Maria first showed her prowess for grass-court excellence when she stormed into the semifinals of Wimbledon back in 2022, just over a year after giving birth to her second child. The touring mom earned a career-high ranking of No. 42 at the start of 2024 but ended the season ranked just outside the Top 100.

She took a seven-match losing streak into the first women’s event at Queen’s Club in over 50 years, but quickly caught fire after winning two matches in qualifying, putting together a stellar string of results that began with wins over former Grand Slam finalists Leylah Fernandez and No. 6 seed Karolina Muchova.

Her wins over Rybakina and Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion, both came in straight sets, booking her a finals clash with a similarly resurgent Anisimova.

The No. 8 seed, Anisimova won the biggest title of her career at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open and reached the second week of Roland Garros. After losing the first set of her first round, the American picked up steam to upset two of the top three sets, ousting Emma Navarro and Zheng Qinwen in the quarter- and semifinals, respectively.

Maria’s variety proved a different challenge, however, and though Anisimova twice rallied from break deficits over the two sets, the German ultimately served out her first WTA 500 title in just under 90 minutes.

The 37-year-old, who thanked her husband and coach Charles-Édouard in celebration of Father’s Day, is projected to rise back to No. 43 in the WTA rankings—just one spot shy of her 2024 career-high.