Barbora Krejcikova won the Vanda Pharmaceuticals Athens Open, defeating Maria Sakkari 7-6(5), 6-3 in one hour and forty-three minutes. It was the Czech's ninth career WTA singles title and her first since winning Wimbledon in 2024.
The final carried unique emotional weight. Sakkari dreamed of lifting the trophy on home soil, forty years after her mother, Angeliki Kanellopoulou, contested the Athens Trophy final in 1986, the last WTA event held in the Greek capital. The crowd was firmly behind the local favourite.
And Sakkari looked poised to deliver. The Greek broke serve early in both sets, leading 4-1 in the first and 2-1 in the second. But Krejcikova drew on the resilience that has defined her career. In the opener, she clawed back from three games down to force a tiebreak, which she edged 7-5 after a tense battle. In the second, she rattled off five of the final six games to seal the title 6-3.
Krejcikova's run through the Athens draw was impressive throughout. The Czech eliminated Qinwen Zheng in the semifinals and top seed Clara Tauson in the quarterfinals. She dropped just one set all week, a sign of renewed form after a difficult stretch.
The title should lift Krejcikova to around world number 26, while her head-to-head record against Sakkari improves to a perfect 4-0. "It's something very special and incredible," Krejcikova said. "I didn't feel like this for such a long period."
Sakkari, despite the defeat, leaves Athens with an encouraging week that should push her toward 33rd in the rankings. Her quest to reclaim the top 20 now continues on the North American hard courts.
