After defeating the former champion, Schneider will rise in the rankings by 35 positions.
19-year-old Russian Diana Schneider was looking forward to the start of the final in Hua Hin. Due to the protracted confrontation between the pairs, the start of the main singles match was delayed. But no circumstances prevented our tennis player from maintaining a winning mood and winning the WTA tournament title for the first time in her career.
After a well-deserved victory, the Russian tennis player will rise significantly in the world rankings.
Second run at the title
On Sunday, February 4, the final of the WTA-250 category tournament took place in Hua Hin (Thailand) with the participation of Russian Diana Schneider. On the way to the main match, the 19-year-old athlete beat the first racket of the tournament, Magda Linett from Poland, in three sets. Then she knocked out Spaniard Paula Badosa, Hungarian Dalma Galfi and Chinese Wang Xin Yu one by one. In the final, the girl had to meet another representative of China, Zhu Lin.
The 108th racket on the planet could not count on becoming a clear favorite in the main match. The 30-year-old Chinese woman had an advantage in ranking and experience, and was also the current champion of Hua Hin. Diana played in the final of a WTA tournament for only the second time in her life: the first time she failed to succeed in the September confrontation with Ons Jabeur in Ningbo. However, the statistics of personal confrontations were in favor of our athlete: in the only meeting between rivals, it was she who won in two sets.
Before her second run at the title, Schneider was in an excellent mood. The girl noted that she played good matches against great opponents in Thailand and was not against having another similar one. True, the start of the meeting had to wait: due to the protracted final in pairs, the singles match began later than planned.
The delayed start did not hinder Schneider’s mood: the Russian took her first serve, then made a break, and after another difficult game she was already leading with a score of 3:0. But it cannot be said that the game took place without resistance from the opponent. Zhu Lin did not fall apart and even managed to reduce the gap to a minimum. In the middle of the set, there was no confidence that Diana would be able to achieve what she wanted. But her own mistakes ruined all the Chinese woman’s plans. Our athlete brought the matter to a confident victory – 6:3.
The second set was not very successful for Diana. If at first she resisted, then she gave in – perhaps fatigue played a role. With the score 2:2, the Russian missed something in the game and as a result lost four games in a row. The situation was extremely unpleasant: the first WTA title in her career was moving away, only her own extreme efforts and mistakes of the opponent, of which Zhu Lin did not have many, could help turn the situation around.
A true champion should not rely on her opponent’s failures. So Diana decided to do everything herself. She won her first serve to zero, then made a break. In the fifth game, in a difficult fight, Schneider again managed to earn a break point, and in the end it ended in victory with a score of 6:1 in the set and 2:1 in the match.
In the decisive game, the Russian improved greatly on serve and reduced her mistakes to almost zero. And it would be strange if, based on such a game, she failed to win this final. Our tennis player earned her first title without any questions, and a bonus to victory will be a rapid upward movement in the WTA rankings. After success in Thailand, Schneider will immediately rise by 35 positions and become the 73rd racket in the world. With a game like this, this is definitely not the limit for Diana.
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Austrian tennis player Sebastian Ofner (ATP 131) suffered a disappointing defeat in the second round of the 2026 Australian Open qualifiers.
In the semi-finals of the selection, the Austrian player lost to the US representative in three sets Nisheshu Basavareddy (ATP 239) in 2 hours 32 minutes. Basavareddy took the victory over Ofner in the third set super tiebreaker.
Sebastian was ahead 7:1 in the super tiebreaker and started celebrating his victory after gaining a point. Sebastian started walking towards the goal and the referee told him the match wasn’t over yet.
As a result, Ofner lost 11:13 and missed two match points: one at 10:9 on the return, the other at 11:10 on serve.
Basavareddy will compete against George Loffagen (Great Britain, ATP 211) in the Australian Open qualifying final.
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On January 14, all second round matches in tough tournaments ended WTA 500 in Adelaide And WTA 250 in HobartIt will take place parallel to the Australian Open 2026 qualifying match (Melbourne).
In Adelaide, Dayana Yastremskaya’s felon Katerina Sinyakova lost to Diana Schneider in the second round.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Second-seeded five-hundred Madison Keys knocked out Tereza Valentova, and eighth-seeded Victoria Mboko fought Anna Kalinskaya.
Victoria Mboko [8] – 🏳️ Anna Kalinskaya – 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (8:6) Teresa Valentova – Madison Keys [2] – 4:6, 1:6
WTA 500 Adelaide. Quarter final matches
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🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – Ayla Tomljanovic [WC]
🏳️Diana Schneider [9] – Emma Navarro [6]
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Kimberly Birrell- Jacqueline Christian [Q] Victoria Mboko [8] – Madison Keys [2]
Video review of match day in Adelaide
In Hobart, top seed Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarter-finals without a fight – Magdalena French withdrew from her second round match.
Olga Danilovich, who defeated McCartney Kessler and advanced to the second place, also defeated Peyton Stearns in the 1/8 final.
Third-seeded Iva Jovic crushes her opponents: The young American first gave up just one game to Janice Tjen and then defeated Renata Sarasua with scores of 6:1, 6:2. Her next opponent will be Magda Linette.
WTA 250 Hobart. 1/8 final
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Emma Raducanu [1] – Magdalena French – WO., Raducanu Rebecca Shramkova – Talia Preston [WC] – 4:6, 1:6
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(Adelaide) Leylah Annie Fernandez and her Hungarian playing partner Timea Babos fell 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6) and 6-10 to the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the Chinese Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Adelaide tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Fernandez and Babos bowed after a tight duel lasting one hour and 59 minutes in front of the second seeds of the doubles tournament.
Siniakova and Zhang will face Kazakh Anna Danilina and Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, fourth seeds in the doubles, in the final four.
The Quebecoise, 22e world racket, lost to Russian Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-3 in singles on Monday.
Furthermore, Ontario’s Victoria Mboko, eighth seed, will meet in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles with American Madison Keys, second seed, at the end of the evening.
Mboko is playing her first official WTA singles tournament in 2026, and her first since Hong Kong, which she won, in November 2025.
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Maria Bouzkova [LL] – 6:3, 6:1
