Harriet Dart saves match points to reach first WTA singles final in Guangzhou

Harriet Dart reached the first WTA Tour singles final of her career by defeating Chinese wildcard Sun Xinran at the Guangzhou Open on Saturday. According to BBC Sport, the British qualifier saved multiple match points before completing a 5-7, 7-6, 6-0 victory in just under two and a half hours, recovering from a difficult opening set to take control of the decider.

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The breakthrough came more than a decade after Dart made her tour debut at Eastbourne in 2015. Now 30, the British number five was appearing in only her second tour-level singles semi-final, following her run to the last four at the 2024 Transylvania Open. She will meet either fourth seed Lilli Tagger or Kaitlin Quevedo in Sunday's final; the opponent had not been decided at the time of the BBC report.

Dart's afternoon began with an early setback as a double fault on break point in her opening service game contributed to a 3-0 deficit. She recovered to lead 5-4 and had the opportunity to serve out the set, but two more double faults helped undo that advantage. Sun, the 16-year-old reigning US Open junior champion, held her next service game before breaking Dart again to claim the opener.

The second set offered Dart further opportunities without an immediate escape. She broke Sun in the first and fifth games, only to lose her own serve directly afterwards on both occasions. Twice she had to serve to remain in the match. After surviving the match points, she won the tie-break to force a deciding set and keep her hopes of a first final alive.

Sun received treatment on her left leg during a medical timeout as the match moved away from her. Dart won all six games of the final set, taking 28 of the 41 points played. Afterwards, she described the emotional difficulty of the contest and expressed pride in how she had turned the second set around.

The run has also improved Dart's ranking position. BBC Sport reported that she had risen 14 places to 101st in the live standings. A victory in the final would secure her return to the world's top 100.