Tjen, Mertens, Joint and more: Vote for the best WTA 250 moment of 2025
Editor’s note: As part of the 2025 WTA Fan Awards series, we’re inviting fans to vote on their favorite players, matches and moments from this season. All categories are open, so check wtatennis.com/awards to make your picks.
For Tuesday, we're asking you to vote on your favorite WTA 250 moment of the year.
Rakotomanga Rajaonah's comeback from 5-0 down in the first round to the Sao Paulo title
When Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah trailed Ana Sofia Sánchez 5-0 in the third set of their Sao Paulo first round, few would have bet on the No. 214-ranked Frenchwoman even winning the match, let alone the tournament. But Rakotomanga Rajaonah began firing winner after winner to steal victory -- saving three match points -- and seven days later, she found herself holding her first WTA trophy. The 19-year-old, who was only playing her third tour-level main draw, was the only player in 2025 to win a WTA tournament after facing match points in her opener.
Janice Tjen makes history for Indonesia in Sao Paulo ... and Chennai
Sao Paulo was only Janice Tjen's second WTA main draw, but the 23-year-old was already receiving substantial buzz after putting together a 27-match (and 42-set) winning streak at ITF level earlier in the year. Graduating to the main tour didn't slow her roll in the slightest. With a smooth game based around a fearsome forehand and sliced backhand, Tjen carved her way to the final in style -- just the third Indonesian to make a WTA final in the Open Era, and first since Angelique Widjaja won Pattaya City 2002. Two months later, Tjen went one better in Chennai, where she won her maiden title.
Elise Mertens saves 11 match points in 's-Hertogenbosch; completes Career Surface Sweep
Elise Mertens is no stranger to a great escape. The Belgian is the only player this decade so far to have won consecutive Grand Slam matches from match point down, something she achieved at the 2023 US Open. This year, she set another record in the 's-Hertogenbosch semifinals, fending off a remarkable 11 match points en route to defeating two-time champion Ekaterina Alexandrova 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4. No player has saved more match points on the way to a tour-level win this decade. The cherry on top? Mertens went on to take the title -- the 10th of her career and first on grass, meaning she has now completed the Career Surface Sweep of trophies on every surface.
Maya Joint and Alexandra Eala's epic Eastbourne tiebreak
The youngest WTA final in terms of combined age this year was also the closest. The Eastbourne title match saw 19-year-old Maya Joint go up against 20-year-old Alexandra Eala in what was already a historic moment for the latter, the first Filipina ever to reach a WTA final. The two young talents delivered in spades as a knife-edge third set went down to the wire, culminating in the joint-longest deciding regular tiebreak of the season. Bold, attacking play from Joint -- plus one unforgettably wild, windy exchange -- enabled the Australian to save four championship points, two with clean winners, and emerge a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(10) victor.
Marie Bouzkova and Linda Noskova play the ninth all-Czech final since 1993 in Prague
The Czech Republic punching above its weight in women's tennis is one of those narratives it's easy to take for granted in 2024. The conveyor belt of top tour players continually produced from a nation whose population is just over 10 million is both remarkable and, in 2025, unsurprising. This year's Livesport Prague Open functioned both as a celebration of Czech tennis and a statement that the conveyor belt isn't slowing down. Eight Czech players made the last 16, an Open Era record, and five made the last eight. Three got to the last four (tying the Open Era record set at Prague 2015), including 18-year-old Tereza Valentova in just her second WTA main draw. And it culminated in the ninth all-Czech final since the country became independent in 1993, and third in tournament history, in which Marie Bouzkova triumphed 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 over Linda Noskova.