After experiencing two runner-up finishes, Dalma Galfi has finally emerged as a WTA 125 champion. The Hungarian player, who was unseeded in the tournament, triumphed over No. 2 seed Katie Volynets of the United States with a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. This victory earned her the Oeiras Ladies Open title in Oeiras, Portugal.
Throughout the week, the schedule was significantly disrupted by rain. However, the clay-court tournament successfully concluded on Sunday as planned. The final match saw Galfi stage a remarkable comeback over 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Celebrating her most significant professional win, 26-year-old Galfi expressed her joy in an Instagram post, saying, “Third time’s the charm.”
Galfi`s previous attempts in WTA 125 finals saw her losses against Sara Errani at the 2022 Contrexeville event and to Darja Semenistaja earlier in the same month at La Bisbal d`Emporda. Notably, all of her WTA 125 finals have been contested on clay courts, each extending to three sets.
In this victorious match, Galfi demonstrated resilience after losing the initial set, taking control in the subsequent two. She successfully defended against all four break points she faced in the second and third sets combined.
Impressively, Galfi only dropped a single set throughout her journey to the title, which was the first set of the final match. She has achieved victory in nine of her last ten matches, with the Oeiras title following her La Bisbal d`Emporda final appearance by two weeks.
Currently holding the No. 149 rank, Galfi is expected to climb closer to the Top 120 in the upcoming rankings update. A former Junior World Champion and Junior US Open champion in 2015, Galfi reached her career-high PIF WTA Ranking of No. 79 in 2022.
Adding to the day`s success for local players, Portuguese sisters Francisca and Matilde Jorge successfully defended their Oeiras Ladies Open doubles title on their home ground.
The Jorge siblings had claimed their most significant career title at the previous year`s event. This year, as the No. 2 seeds, they repeated their success by defeating Anastasia Detiuc and Patricia Maria Tig, who were unseeded, with a score of 6-1, 6-2 in a final that lasted 63 minutes.
