After losing in the final 12 months ago, Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic came back to finish the job this week at the Open Capfinances Rouen Métropole.
The 31-year-old Swiss, the No. 9 seed, eased to her third career WTA 125 singles title with a 6-4, 6-1 win over qualifier Erika Andreeva in Sunday's championship match.
After losing her first set of the tournament to France's Elsa Jacquemot, Golubic lost just 25 games in the next 10 sets she played. Andreeva, meanwhile, came through qualifying to reach her first WTA 125 final, and the 19-year-old knocked off former Top 25 player Jil Teichmann, and seeds Jodie Burrage and Alize Cornet, en route to the final.
Golubic lost a 7-6(6), 6-1 final to Ukrainian-born Belgian Maryna Zanevska in Rouen last year, but had no interest in repeating the result this year, in her second meeting against the elder of the two Andreeva sisters. She sprinted out to 3-0 leads in both sets, and though she failed to serve out the opener at 5-3, eventually converted her third set point.
In all, Golubic broke Andreeva's serve four times, and she lost just five points in four service games in the second set.
Three of Golubic's four WTA 125 finals have come in France, and she adds a win in Rouen to the title she won in Saint-Malo in 2021.
In the doubles final, the British-French pairing of Maia Lumsden and Jessika Ponchet toppled No. 1 seeds Anna Bondar and Kimberley Zimmermann, 6-3, 7-6(4), to win their first WTA 125 title of any kind.
Lumsden, a 25-year-old Scot, and Ponchet, 27, were a combined 0-4 in WTA 125 doubles finals before their march to the title. They also beat No. 2 seeds Alena Fomina-Klotz and Iryna Shymanovich in the second round, and No. 4 seeds Aliona Bolsova and Natela Dzalamidze in the semifinals.
