Rus ends Noha Akugue’s dream week to win Hamburg title

No.7 seed Arantxa Rus ended the Cinderella run of German wildcard Noma Noha Akugue 6-0, 7-6(3) in Sunday’s final of the Hamburg European Open to capture the first Hologic WTA Tour singles title of her career.

The match was assured to crown a first-time champion, and 32-year-old Rus, the oldest first-time finalist at a Hologic WTA Tour tournament in 17 years, Rus became the eighth first-time champion so far this year with a 1 hour and 45-minute win over the 19-year-old, who won four matches in her WTA main-draw debut this week to reach the final.

Rus joins Zhu Lin (Hua Hin), Alycia Parks (Lyon), Marta Kostyuk (Austin), Lucia Bronzetti (Rabat), Katie Boulter (Nottingham), Maria Timofeeva (Budapest) and Zheng Qinwen (Palermo) in this achievement.

The win is the latest in a series of late-career breakthroughs for the former World No.1 junior, who won the girls’ singles title at the Australian Open back in 2008. She came into Hamburg at a career-high ranking of World No.60, and on the back of this result, is projected to break into the Top 50 for the first time on Monday.