Krejčíková wins Athens title — her first since Wimbledon 2024

Czech tennis player Barbora Krejčíková won the final of the tournament in Athens, defeating home favourite Maria Sakkari 7-6, 6-3, to claim the ninth singles title of her career — her first since triumphing at Wimbledon two years ago.

The 30-year-old Czech trailed 1-3 in the opening set but broke back and went on to take the tie-break 7-5. In the second set, fourth seed Sakkari again started strongly, moving 2-1 ahead with a break, but Krejčíková, seeded fourth herself, quickly levelled the score and let her opponent win only one more game.

This was already Krejčíková's second WTA final this season — in June she reached the championship match at the clay-court event in 's-Hertogenbosch but was unable to take the court due to illness.

The Athens win made the two-time Grand Slam champion the fifth Czech player to claim a WTA title this season, following Sára Bejlek, Marie Bouzková, Linda Nosková and Karolína Muchová.

Playing on Sakkari's home court gave Krejčíková particular satisfaction. "I was expecting this atmosphere — for them it was a historic moment. I'm glad I could experience it, and managing to win was a huge achievement. I really love matches like this. This is exactly what you train for, work every day for, and sacrifice everything for," Krejčíková told reporters.

The Czech player was genuinely delighted to finally claim the title she had been chasing for two years. "It's a wonderful result, and I'm very proud of how I handled it. I'm glad I got to feel that winning feeling again, because it had been a long time coming, and you never know when the next chance will come," she added.

For the win, Krejčíková earned 250 ranking points and prize money of 32,520 euros — roughly 787,000 crowns. Next week she is set to compete at the Livesport Prague Open at Štvanice, where she is seeded second behind defending champion Marie Bouzková.

For Sakkari, the Athens tournament — held in the Greek capital for the first time since 1991 — ended just as it once did for her mother, Angeliki Kanellopoulou, who also lost in the final of this event back in 1986.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz