Baptiste ends near four-year wait for a title with W60 Caserta crown

Hailey Baptise ended a three-and-a-half-year wait for silverware on the ITF World Tennis Tour in style by winning her biggest title yet at W60 Caserta.

The 21-year-old American defeated Cypriot Raluca Georgiana Serban 6-3 6-2 in the final at the Italian clay court tournament to capture the fourth ITF singles crown of her career.

“It feels amazing,” said Baptiste, after adding a W60 crown to the three W25 titles she collected in 2019. “It’s always good to win on a Sunday. It’s my first title in a while, my biggest title, so I’m very happy.

“I think I’m gonna jump a little bit in the rankings – not as high as I want to – but hopefully I can keep this momentum going, get some more wins and titles this year. Get my ranking back to where it was.”

Baptiste did indeed make a rankings jump on Monday – climbing 29 spots to No. 214 world. She remains some way short of the peak of No. 119 she achieved last March, but Baptise, who has featured in a Grand Slam main draw of five occasions - has a plan to return – and journey beyond – those heights.

“Hopefully I can continue to win a lot of matches this summer and hopefully by the end of the year I can break top 100,” she said.

Discover all the weekend's results from the ITF World Tennis Tour this weekend here