Linette dedicates Chennai title to victims of Kraków shooting

Poland's Magda Linette has dedicated her victory at the Chennai Open, her fourth career title on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, to the victims of a mass shooting in Kraków.

After dethroning No. 1 seed and defending champion Janice Tjen 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in Monday's final -- which had been postponed by a day due to adverse weather conditions -- Linette referred to the atrocity in her home country in which a gunman opened fire in a market square. Six people have died, with 17 injured.

"As much as I'm so happy, it's hard to celebrate because of what happened in Poland, in Kraków," Linette said. "I just want to say that my heart and wishes are with all the victims and those who are hurt. In those tough moments we can really thank and appreciate one another and give that person next to us an extra hug today."

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No. 3 seed Linette's hard-fought week in India began with victory in the longest WTA main-draw match of 2026 so far, a 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2 marathon over qualifier Aliona Falei in 3 hours and 33 minutes. After a straight-sets win over Moyuka Uchijima in the second round, the 34-year-old then had to come from a set down in her last three matches. In the quarterfinals, she also trailed Mai Hontama 5-3 in the second set and 4-2 in the decider. In total, she spent 12 hours and 28 minutes on court.

"I fought from the very first round," Linette said. "I was down in almost every single match, so it really took a lot out of me but most of all I proved to myself that I can."

Chennai marked Linette's ninth career final, and the first tournament at which she has contested multiple finals -- but she had a demon to exorcise from her previous title match here. Back in 2022, she led Linda Fruhvirtova 4-1 in the third set of the final, only to lose 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Four years on, Linette fell behind after Tjen seized a tight first set by raising her forehand level at 5-5 to capture the single decisive break. But the World No. 68 struck back in style with a series of terrific redirected winners that took advantage of Tjen's court positioning -- the Indonesian prefers to lean towards the ad side of the court in order to give herself more of an opportunity to unleash her forehand. Linette took nine of the next 11 games to advance to a 3-1 third-set lead.

There was a moment in which the 2022 final seemed to be recurring. Tjen pegged Linette back to 3-3 after coming through a five-deuce tussle to break back, coming up with an exquisite drop shot to bring her sixth break point of the game and converting with an off forehand winner.

But Linette wasted no time in regaining her lead. She put in the hard yards to break Tjen again immediately, sprinting up and down the court to retrieve a series of drop shots before putting away one that wasn't quite up to par. Three games later, Linette served out to love nervelessly in a game that consisted of a volley winner, an overhead and two unreturned serves.

The fourth WTA trophy of Linette's career, Chennai 2026 joins The Bronx 2019, Hua Hin 2020 and Prague 2024 in Linette's haul. This one, she said, was special as it snapped a second-half slump this season. After reaching the 's-Hertogenbosch semifinals in June, Linette won just one of her next 10 matches.

"I'm really proud of myself and my team, because we had a really tough streak for a lot of weeks," she said. "I had a very good beginning of the season but towards the end of it, I hit the wall and I didn't really know what to do. I'm really glad that all of us just stuck through and worked really hard, tried every single thing that we could to get me back on track. I'm really glad we managed to find it."

On Sunday, the unseeded Swiss duo Naima Karamoko and Simona Waltert had claimed the doubles crown, defeating home hopes Vaishnavi Adkar and Rutuja Bhosale 6-2, 6-0 in the final. The result marked a maiden tour-level doubles title for Karamoko and a second for Waltert, who was also the 2021 Lausanne doubles champion alongside Susan Bandecchi.

Adkar and Bhosale were the first all-Indian pair to reach a WTA doubles final.