Naef seals career-best triumph in W80 Le Neubourg thriller
Celine Naef continues to go from strength to strength on the ITF World Tennis Tour, claiming her third title of the season - and biggest yet - at W80 Le Neubourg.
Naef, 18, edged past Alina Korneeva in a three-set thriller at the hard court tournament in Norther France, dropping to the floor in sobs of delight after punching a forehand winner to seal a 4-6 6-2 7-6(7) triumph.
The former junior world No. 4 started the year ranked outside the WTA Top 400, but has made huge progress this year – winning titles at W25 Loughborough and W40 Porto before going on to qualify for her first Grand Slam main draw at Wimbledon.
Her latest – and greatest title triumph yet – sees her climb 27 spots in the WTA rankings to a career-high No. 125. She also becomes the Swiss No. 3 behind Belinda Bencic and Viktorija Golubic, leapfrogging Jil Teichmann and Simona Waltert.
The teenager’s very rise through the competition on the ITF World Tennis Tour follows an excellent ITF junior career in which she compiled an 109-30 win-loss record, won JA Milan, and reached the quarter-finals of the girls’ singles at the 2022 US Open.
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Sixteen-year-old Korneeva, meanwhile, could be delighted with her week on her first appearance since she won the W100 Figueira Da Foz title in at the end of July. The reigning junior world No. 1 is the reigning Australian Open and Roland Garros girls' champion, and also reached the semi-finals of the junior event at Wimbledon in July.
Elsewhere, Serbia’s Dejana Radanovic won the biggest title of her career over the weekend, claiming her 12th ITF singles title in total with victory at W40 Skopje.
There was also a positive win for Britain’s Sonay Kartal, who ended a six-match losing streak with victory in Portugal at W25 Leiria, while Australian Priscilla Hon, who won the W60 Canberra title in March, continued her good form on home soil after winning at W25 Perth.
Click here for all the weekend’s results from the women’s ITF World Tennis Tour