No.1 seed Ons Jabeur captured her fifth Hologic WTA Tour title, second in 2023 and first of her career on hard courts at the Ningbo Open with a 6-2, 6-1 defeat of unseeded Diana Shnaider in 78 minute final.
The Tunisian, who is currently No.8 in the Race to the WTA Finals Cancun, earned a last-minute wild card to the WTA 250 tournament after her third-round loss to Martina Trevisan in Guadalajara last week. She previously claimed the Charleston title on the green clay in April, but this is Jabeur’s first appearance in a final since her 6-4, 6-4 loss to Marketa Vondrousova at Wimbledon.
Jabeur has now won titles on grass (Birmingham 2021, Berlin 2022), clay (Madrid 2021, Charleston 2022) and hard courts. He previously lost three hard-court finals, one indoors (Moscow 2018) and two outdoors (Chicago 2021, US Open 2022).
Diana Shnaider’s fearless approach to tennis and fashion
No.85-ranked Shnaider reached her first career final in her ninth WTA main draw. A year ago, the 19-year-old was ranked No.220 and began his freshman year at NC State University. He cracked the Top 100 while still in college before turning pro in May, and guaranteed a new career-high ranking in the Top 70 on Monday.
How to win the game: Jabeur was pushed to three sets twice this week en route to the final, by Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals and Nadia Podoroska in the semifinals. But the 29-year-old delivered a rock-solid performance in the title match, maintaining a consistent level throughout without a dip in form.
Jabeur was able to keep up the aggressive pressure on Shnaider without going for low-percentage risks throughout, and managed to tally 18 winners on just 10 unforced errors while saving all three. which break points he faced. It wasn’t until the home stretch that he started unleashing his signature touch shots, including a leaping, angled high backhand volley and a cat-and-mouse exchange in the final game that started with a return drop shot.
Shnaider repeatedly showed why he is an exciting prospect, winning a stunning all-court exchange early in the first set. But he was unable to hit Jabeur’s defense on a consistent basis, especially in the tighter moments: Jabeur would win all six deuce games in the match.