Putintseva defeated Tomljanovic in the tennis final in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM (AFP) – Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva won her first senior grass singles title after beating Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 7-6 (10/8) in the final of the Birmingham WTA Tour event yesterday .

The 29-year-old’s previous two WTA titles came on clay, in Nuremberg in 2019 and Budapest in 2021.

But he prevailed in nearly 90 minutes on court yesterday after coming from 5-3 down – and saving two set points – in the second set of the final of this Wimbledon warm-up event.

The victory made Putintseva only the second unseeded Birmingham champion in the past 10 years, following Beatriz Haddad Maia’s title in 2022.

“I don’t know how I feel because I didn’t expect it at all,” Putintseva said afterwards.

“It’s great and confusing because I’ve always been good on clay, but now all of a sudden I’m good on grass. I’ll take that! It’s great!

“It was a great game. We started so well and then Ajla leveled up to the highest level.

She was playing really amazing, she didn’t give me time to think or do anything. The game was even in the end and I was a bit luckier.”

It was Tomljanovic’s first tournament-level singles final in five years, with the Australian still waiting for her first title.

Even so, it has been an encouraging week for the Australian, formerly ranked 32 in the world, after missing most of 2023 following knee surgery and then undergoing surgery to remove ovarian cysts.