Harriet Dart wins first WTA title with Guangzhou Open victory

Harriet Dart won the first WTA Tour singles title of her career on Sunday, beating Austria’s Lilli Tagger in three sets to claim the Guangzhou Open and secure a place in the Australian Open main draw in January.

The 30-year-old Briton, ranked 115th before the tournament, fought back from a set down to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. She will return to the world’s top 100 when the rankings are updated on Monday.

Dart came through qualifying to reach her first tour-level final at the WTA 250 event. The final set remained tight: Tagger, 18 and ranked 53rd, twice pulled back Dart’s lead before the Briton broke for 4-3 and served to move within a game of the title.

Dart missed two championship points on Tagger’s serve, but converted her third with a service winner. She had come from behind to win the opening set in four of her seven matches in Guangzhou.

The victory caps a strong second half of the season. Since Wimbledon, Dart has won 19 of 24 tour-level matches on hard courts. She reached a career-high ranking of 70 in 2024, but had spent most of the past two seasons outside the top 100.

Tagger, the 2025 French Open junior champion, told Dart after the match: “It wasn’t fun to be on the other side of the court today – you’ve had an amazing year.”