After experiencing two runner-up finishes, Dalma Galfi has finally achieved victory as a WTA 125 champion. The unseeded Hungarian player overcame No. 2 seed Katie Volynets of the United States with a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to win the Oeiras Ladies Open title in Oeiras, Portugal.
Throughout the week, rain significantly disrupted the schedule. However, the clay-court tournament successfully concluded on Sunday as planned, culminating in Galfi`s impressive comeback victory in the final, which lasted 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Expressing her joy on Instagram, 26-year-old Galfi celebrated her most significant professional title, noting, “Third time’s the charm.”
Galfi`s previous WTA 125 final appearances saw her lose to Sara Errani at Contrexeville in 2022 and to Darja Semenistaja earlier in the current month at La Bisbal d`Emporda. All of her WTA 125 finals have been contested on clay courts, each extending to three sets.
In this recent match, Galfi successfully recovered from losing the first set, taking control in the subsequent two. Notably, she defended against all four break points she faced in the combined second and third sets.
En route to securing the title, Galfi only conceded one set, which was the opening set of the final match. She has demonstrated strong form, winning nine out of her last 10 matches. The Oeiras title comes two weeks after her final appearance at La Bisbal d`Emporda.
Currently holding the No. 149 rank, Galfi is expected to climb closer to the Top 120 in the updated rankings this week. A former Junior World Champion and Junior US Open champion in 2015, Galfi achieved her career-high PIF WTA Ranking of No. 79 in 2022.
In other events on Sunday, Portuguese sisters Francisca and Matilde Jorge successfully defended their Oeiras Ladies Open doubles title on their home ground.
The Jorge siblings had won their most significant career title at the previous year`s event. This year, as No. 2 seeds, they replicated their success by defeating unseeded Anastasia Detiuc and Patricia Maria Tig 6-1, 6-2 in a final that lasted 63 minutes.
Rupert Caldwell