Harriet Dart beats Lilli Tagger 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to win Guangzhou Open on 1 November 2026

Harriet Dart defeated Lilli Tagger 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to capture her first WTA title at the Guangzhou Open in China on 1 November 2026.

Dart, 30, was a qualifier and this was her first WTA final; she reached the title match after saving three match points in her semi-final win over Sun Xinran. Tagger is an 18-year-old from Austria and was the fourth seed in Guangzhou. Dart is the British No 5 and is from Hampstead.

Dart lost the opening game and faced a break point in her next service game before finally winning a game against the fourth seed. She broke back to level at 4-4 in the first set, but Tagger immediately broke back and closed out the set 6-4.

The second set saw Dart seize the first break opportunity of the set, converting it to move ahead 5-3 and level the match at one set apiece. That break proved decisive as Dart held to force a decider.

The final set featured a sequence of five consecutive breaks of serve before Dart halted the run by saving two break points to hold for 5-3. In the following game she had two championship points; Tagger saved the first with a big serve and Dart missed the second when she netted a mid-court forehand.

Dart served out the match to 15, sealing victory with an unreturned serve and falling onto her back when the final point was won. Earlier in the tournament she had saved three match points in the semi-final against Sun Xinran to reach her first tour-level final.

She said on court: "I’ll try not to get too emotional. A big thank you to my team this week. It’s amazing to play in front of such a big crowd. It’s been so much fun here and I really appreciate it and hope to be back next year."

The title returned Dart to the WTA top 100 of the rankings.