ON a day where the two WTA Tour finals featured players from the same nation in each respect, it was the higher ranked player in each case that got the chocolates. In Prague, Magda Linette crushed her Polish countrywoman Magdalena Frech 6-2 6-1, while in Iasi it was top seed Mirra Andreeva proving too strong for Elina Avanesyan who retired midway through the third set.

Linette powered through the deciding match in the 2024 Prague Open, hardly missing a beat in an 80-minute show, dropping just three games en route to the title. The fourth seed thrived against her sixth seeded fellow Pole, saving all four break points she saved, and broke four times herself from seven chances.

Her first serve percentage (84) was incredible, and she was able to win 27 of 32 points off it, coming from a 63 per cent clip. The world number 48 last won a title back in 2020, and Prague marked her first claycourt win.

“I knew how tough it was going to be,” Linette said post-match. “I needed to play my best to beat her — I really have to play my best — and I’m glad I took all my chances today.”

Both players will head to the Paris Olympic Games in a quick turnaround from the match, with Frech taking on Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in the first round, while Linette funnily enough faces fellow title winner, Andreeva.

Speaking of Andreeva who won the final in Iasi overnight, she took a little while to find her stride. However after dropping the first set, she won the last seven games of the match coming from 4-5 down on serve in the second set to be 4-0 up in the deciding set.

Andreeva won 60 and 61 per cent of her first and second serve points off a 65 per cent clip, while Avanesyan was unable to capitalise off an elite 84 per cent efficiency, only winning 49 and 47 per cent off hers. She did break five times, the same amount as she was broken in the first two sets, but conceded both of her deciding set service games before retiring.

“I’d also like to thank me for always fighting till the end especially today with such a tough battle from Elina and also would like to thank me for not quitting and just staying out there and fighting my arse off so thanks to me I guess and thanks to everyone for this week, it was an amazing week for me,” Andreeva said post-match. “For sure it’s going to stay in my heart for a very, very long time.”

Though disappointed she had to retire from the match, Avanesyan said she had throughly enjoyed the atmosphere of the Romanian event and her run to the final

“It’s a really great event, I really enjoyed my time here,” she said. “All the crowd was really supportive, everything here was just amazing and of course my first WTA final I will never forget it, and it’s always going to be in my heart.”