Tatjana Maria slices her way to Queen's glory as 37-year-old shocks flummoxed Amanda Anisimova

German veteran Tatjana Maria sprung another sensational surprise as the 37-year-old defeated Amanda Anisimova in straight sets to win the Queen's Club Championships. 

Maria's 6-3 6-4 victory over the American eighth seed marked the zenith of an astounding week for the qualifier, who had stunned big names left right and centre en route to the WTA 500 crown.

US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez, French Open finalist Karolina Pliskova, Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina and Australian Open holder Madison Keys all fell victim to Maria's unique and unorthodox playing style, which saw the 37-year-old deploy slice after slice while limiting her powerful groundstrokes.

However, such an approach worked wonders yet again in the championship match, where an increasingly flummoxed Anisimova made a plethora of unforced errors while attempting to counter Maria's game.

The qualifier is the first new women's name on the trophy since Olga Morozova in 1973, as Queen's returned to the WTA Tour for the 2025 season following a 52-year absence.

Maria's maiden WTA 500 success marks her biggest career achievement to date and her fourth WTA Tour singles title, following wins at the 2018 Mallorca Open and 2022 and 2023 Copa Colsanitas tournaments in Colombia.

How Maria sliced her way to becoming queen of Queen's

While many of the world's most revered women's players seek to overpower their opponent with venomous groundstrokes, Maria's agility, speed, intelligence and sumptuous slicing ability proved equally effective at frustrating her foes.

The 37-year-old - who came into the competition on a nine-match losing streak - quickly drew first blood with a break to love in the fourth game, by which time Anisimova was already making herself her own worst enemy with a series of mistakes.

The American breaking back in the seventh game proved trivial as Maria responded immediately before holding to love to see out the first set, one in which she only produced three winners but the same amount of unforced errors.

The German's conservative, measured style was bewildering the front-footed Anisimova, who went a double break down in the second set but earned one back to set up a grandstand finish.

However, after Anisimova netted a powerful return to set up Maria's first match point, she sent another forehand wide of the tramlines to spark jubilant scenes in the German's camp.

Written by
Ben Knapton