Local wild card Tagger edges Samsonova in thriller to reach Linz quarterfinals

Austrian teen Lilli Tagger advanced to her first quarterfinal on clay on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz with a dramatic upset win over third-seeded Liudmila Samsonova at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz on Thursday evening. The 18-year-old wild card will face Tamara Korpatsch or Anastasia Potapova next.

Tagger, who won the Roland Garros junior title last year, opened the match with a break of serve in the first game, setting the tone early. The Austrian earned another break in the seventh game to seal the first set 6-2.

She secured an early break in the second set and appeared on course for victory as she served for the match at 5-4. However, Samsonova, a five-time WTA Tour titlist, broke back to level the set at 5-5. The Russian earned four set points in the 12th game, but Tagger held serve to force a tiebreak.

Samsonova had four more set points in the tiebreak, but Tagger saved each of them before converting her fourth match point to complete a 6-2, 7-6 (11) win in 2 hours, 2 minutes.

The victory over the world No. 21 marks the biggest win of her career, surpassing her previous best result against Viktorija Golubic at the 2025 Jiujiang event. Tagger went on to reach her first and so far only singles final on the tour in Jiujiang.

Earlier in the day, Donna Vekic advanced to the quarterfinals for the third time in Linz after her second-round opponent Anhelina Kalinina withdrew due to illness. The Croatian, whose best result in Linz is a semifinal finish in 2024, has reached her first tour-level quarterfinal since Chennai in October 2025. She will face former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in the last eight.