She’s been threatening it for a while, but this week Barbora Krejcikova finally got back in the winner’s circle with the title at the WTA250 in Athens, claiming her 9th WTA tour title and the first since Wimbledon 2024. The tour was back in Greece for the first time since 1990 and was obviously a huge deal to the runner-up, Greek Maria Sakkari, who had stormed through the tournament to reach the final. Sakkari’s mother, Angeliki Kanellopoulou, made the final here 40 years ago and Maria was looking to go one better.

Krejcikova and Sakkari have history – but pretty much all in Barbora Krejcikova’s favour. The most recent and memorable was that 2021 Roland Garros semifinal, notable for Sakkari having a match point but also the overrule from umpire Pierre Bacchi on match point to Krejcikova that meant she had to win the match twice, 7-5, 4-6, 9-7. Being a point away from a grand slam final hit Sakkari hard. Krejcikova, of course, went on to win the title, her first grand slam. A part of Maria Sakkari will always think, ‘that could have been me.’ (Although she had another golden chance before imploding in the 2021 US Open semifinal against Emma Raducanu. A more egregious wasted opportunity perhaps..)

This final was another big match for Sakkari. 99% of the crowd was Greek and cheering for her including her mother, her fiancé and his dad, the Greek Prime Minister! To be honest, I also thought Sakkari would win and I would have been happy for her. She’s been struggling to get back to her best and this would have been a nice ending for her and the tournament. I also thought Krejcikova might be tired after finishing her semifinal very late the previous day, plus her up and down form in that semifinal brought out the inner pessimist in me!

Krejcikova had a tough run through to the title, having to beat Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinals – Krejcikova’s first victory over the Chinese Olympic champion. Qinwen has been on the road back from injury and there were flashes of the attacking play that took her to the top reaches of the game, but not consistently enough. In the semifinals, Krejcikova beat Clara Tauson, who was the top seed at the tournament. Tauson is not in the greatest form lately but Krejcikova let her back in after dominating early on, squandering a set and a break lead to have to win in three sets. The match was long, finishing past midnight and Krejcikova had to have treatment to her foot – blisters?

Meanwhile, Sakkari had been tearing though the draw – although Polina Kudermetova, Harriet Dart, Alycia Parks and Alina Korneeva were probably slightly easier opponents. She had not dropped a set but maybe a sign that this was going to be a tough final to win was how emotional she got after winning the semifinal. This tournament meant a lot to Sakkari – and ultimately maybe a bit too much. Krejcikova was back to her cool and calm best this week. She was striking those killer forehands, aborting a ton of ball tosses, hitting the corners, mixing it up – stunning winners with chances not taken. Yes, this was not a flawless Barbora Krejcikova performance – but she won the tournament anyway!

One of the reasons I am such a Barbie K fan is that she is such a smart player. Krejcikova is not someone who will get into a 30 shot repetitive cross court rally and just blast the ball for hours. Krejcikova plots and plans, playing each shot with the idea of what comes next. Maybe it’s all that doubles, setting up her partner for a winner, but when she is on, it is such a thing of beauty. Her powerful forehand leaving her opponents flailing is probably as flashy as Krejcikova gets!

Krejcikova has had a good summer, making the final in S’Hertogenbosch but unfortunately falling ill and not able to compete. A good run to the 4th round at Wimbledon and a close loss to eventual finalist Karolina Muchova and now a title in Athens. Maybe it all started with making that WTA125 final in Parma in May too. The main goal has been to stay fit for the past few years, and when she is fit, Krejcikova can win titles. Yes, this was only a 250 level title, but it has been great to see her compete and play well.

Incidentally, the last few weeks have seen a remarkable run of success for the Czech Women:

S’Hertogenbosch – Krejcikova finalist

Berlin – Noskova champion

Nottingham – Bouzkova champion

Bad Homburg – Muchova champion

Wimbledon – Noskova champion, Muchova finalist

Athens – Krejcikova champion

This week sees the tour in the Czech Republic for the Prague Open where Marie Bouzkova is top seed and defending champion. Krejcikova is the second seed and due to play despite only finishing in Athens on Sunday. Will there be another Czech tour winner? The odds have to be good…

Meanwhile, the last few months have seen quite the shake up at the top of the women’s game. Since the clay court season started with wins in Charleston for Jess Pegula and Stuttgart for Elena Rybakina, all of the titles have been to players outside the top 5. Marta Kostyuk had a great run on clay with the title in Madrid and a good run in Paris (semifinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon were great results). There are the Czechs as mentioned above taking a stack of titles. Svitolina had a great run in Rome and looked likely. Donna Vekic and Madi Keys reminded people why they love grass with the titles at Queens and Eastbourne. While Pegula made the final in Berlin and Gauff was a semifinalist at Wimbledon, the biggest names have not threatened for a title in some time. It’s not that they’ve flopped totally but Sabalenka, Rybakina and Swiatek especially have a lot of questions going into the hard court season with lacklustre results lately. World #1 Aryna Sabalenka once again will head to New York in August as a number one with no slam title and Elena Rybakina nipping at her heels for the top spot. Can’t wait..!