No.8 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia captured her third and biggest Hologic WTA Tour title to date at the Huafa Technology WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai after defeating No.7 seed Zheng Qinwen 7-6(11), 7-6(4) in a riveting final.

At 2 hours and 51 minutes long, the final was the longest tour-level straight-sets match of the season, exceeding Yuan Yue’s 7-5, 7-6(7) defeat of Marie Bouzkova in the Seoul quarterfinals over 2 hours and 49 minutes.

The trophy was Haddad Maia’s first above WTA 250 level, first on hard courts and first since Birmingham 2022. She had come into Zhuhai having lost three out of four matches since injuring her hands in a freak shower incident in Guadalajara, but rediscovered her best form to go unbeaten this week. 

The final result, which was a first-time encounter between the two players, snapped home hope Zheng’s eight-match winning streak following her own first WTA 500 title in Zhengzhou two weeks ago.

Currently ranked No.19, Haddad Maia will rise back to at least No.11 in the next edition of the WTA Rankings, which will follow this week’s WTA Finals Cancun. Unless Barbora Krejcikova either plays two matches or wins one match as an alternate in Cancun, Haddad Maia will return to her career-high of No.10, which she originally set in June after reaching the Roland Garros semifinals.

More to come…