Diana Shnaider Claims First 500-Level Title at 2024 Bad Homburg Open
The Russian battled Donna Vekić of Croatia in the final.
Diana Shnaider of Russia, 20, defeated Donna Vekić of Croatia, 28, to win the Women’s Singles title at the 2024 Bad Homburg Open in Bad Homburg, Germany (elevated to a WTA 500 event this year). The score in the final was 6-3, 2-6 and 6-3 in favor of Shnaider.
This was the first match Shnaider and Vekić have ever played against each other on the WTA Tour. Today’s victory was the second title Shnaider has won on the 2024 WTA Tour and the second title of her career in single’s competition. Notably, this was the first title she has claimed from a grass court event. And finally, she becomes the first player representing Russia to win the title in Bad Homburg since the event joined the tour in 2021.
Heading into this tournament, Shnaider was ranked as the Number 47 tennis player on the 2024 WTA Tour, while Vekić carried the Number 49 designation. By winning in Bad Homburg, Shnaider has received 500 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Vekić has picked up 325 points. As a result, Shnaider will make her Top 30 debut in the rankings.
Kateřina Siniaková of the Czech Republic (No. 27) was the tournament’s reigning champion. This year though, she withdrew ahead of her quarterfinal match against Vekić. Both Shanider and Vekić entered the main draw as unseeded players.
Shnaider arrived in the final after winning against Angelique Kerber of Germany (No. 221), Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine (No. 28), Paula Badosa of Spain (No. 113), and Emma Navarro of the United States (No. 19). She prevailed against the event’s third seed to win the title.
In the other half of the main draw, Vekić defeated Lucia Bronzetti of Italy (No. 64), Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia (No. 22), Siniaková, and Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria (No. 58). She knocked out the event’s sixth seed to reach the final.
The revised rankings for the 2024 WTA Tour will be officially released on Monday, July 1. The tour will then play one tournament between July 1 and 14: Wimbledon in London, United Kingdom (a Grand Slam event). The competition will be played on grass courts.
Markéta Vondroušová of the Czech Republic (No. 6) is the reigning champion at Wimbledon. She is looking to defend the title as the event’s sixth seed this year - facing Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain (No. 83) in the first round. Both Shnaider and Vekić are unseeded players in the main draw. In the first round, Shnaider will battle Karolína Plíšková of the Czech Republic (No. 42) and Vekić will compete against Wang Xiyu of China (No. 51).