Beatriz Haddad Maia Takes WTA Title at 2024 Korea Open
The Brazilian player faced off against Daria Kasatkina of Russia in the final.
Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, 28, defeated Daria Kasatkina of Russia, 27, to win the Women’s Singles title at the 2024 Korea Open in Seoul, South Korea (a WTA 500 event). The score in the final was 1-6, 6-4 and 6-1 in favor of Haddad Maia.
This was the fourth match Haddad Maia and Kasatkina have played against each other on the WTA Tour - with Haddad Maia leading 2-1 in their prior meetings. Today’s victory was the first title Haddad Maia has won on the 2024 WTA Tour and the fourth title of her career in single’s competition. Notably, this was the second title she has claimed from a hard court event and her first from a 500-level tournament. Moreover, she becomes the first player representing Brazil to win the title in Seoul since the event joined the tour in 2022.
Heading into this tournament, Kasatkina was ranked as the Number 13 tennis player on the 2024 WTA Tour, while Haddad Maia carried the Number 17 designation. By winning in Seoul, Haddad Maia has received 500 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Kasatkina has picked up 325 points.
Jessica Pegula of the United States (No. 3) was the tournament’s reigning champion when the event was a 250-level competition in 2023. This year though, she withdrew from the main draw before the start of the tournament. Meanwhile, Kasatkina and Haddad Maia were the event’s first and third seeds, respectively. Both received byes into the second round of competition.
Haddad Maia arrived in the final after winning against Ajla Tomljanović of Australia (No. 122), lucky loser Polina Kudermetova of Russia (No. 163), and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia (No. 44).
In the other half of the main draw, Kasatkina defeated Hailey Baptiste of the United States (No. 105), Emma Raducanu of the United Kingdom (No. 70), and fourth seed Diana Shnaider of Russia (No. 16).
The revised rankings for the 2024 WTA Tour will be officially released on Monday, September 23. The tour will then play one tournament from September 25-October 6: the China Open in Beijing, China (a WTA 1000 event). The competition will be played on hard courts.
Iga Świątek of Poland (No. 1) is the reigning champion at the China Open. This year though, she has withdrawn from the main draw for personal reasons. Instead, the top two seeds will be Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus (No. 2) and Pegula. Furthermore, Kasatkina and Haddad Maia will compete as the event’s tenth and fourteenth seeds, respectively. All seeds receive a bye into the second round.