Seventeen-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic clinched her first WTA title at the Chennai Open and ensured a Top 100 debut in Monday’s updated singles rankings.
Playing in her eighth tour-level main draw and for the first time in Chennai, Fruhvirtova defeated En-shuo Liang, Rebecca Peterson, Varvara Gracheva, and Nadia Podoroska en route to the final. Against third seed Magda Linette in Sunday’s title match, the teenager was up for the challenge as she recovered from losing the first set and came back from 4-1 down in the decider to win 4-6 6-3 6-4.
At 17 years and 141 days old, the world No.130 Fruhvirtova is the youngest title winner so far this season and the youngest singles champion on the Hologic WTA Tour since Coco Gauff won the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Open at 17 years, 70 days old.
Note that Fruhvirtova also has an extremely talented and successful younger sibling. Her 15-year-old sister Brenda, ranked world No.192, is on a 25-match winning streak in ITF Challenger events — she’s just won her fifth straight ITF Challenger title, in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy.
