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.

Diana Schneider / Photo: © IMAGO/Schreyer / imago-images.de / Global Look Press

Extra effort and minimal mistakes

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.