Notes from the Tour: Maiden winners waiting list...

Thursday 30th July 2026

Three of last week’s four tournaments produced a first-time trophy winner…

With big prices a standout theme for these maiden title winners…

Quentin Halys won ATP Kitzbuhel as a 28/1 shot. Lifting the first trophy of his singles career, age 29.

Another Frenchman, 22-year-old Luca Van Assche, also tasted success for the first time. Taking the silverware at ATP Estoril, having gone off as an 80/1 outsider in the Outright Winner betting.

On the women’s tour, a teenager we talked about in May came good to win her maiden WTA title last week. Austrian 18-year-old Lilli Tagger went all the way in Prague – from a hefty starting price of 40/1.  

• Last week’s Estoril and Prague runners-up were also of note. With Alexander Blockx and Daria Snigur respectively reaching their first ever finals. You may recall the memorably named Blockx featured in last week’s list of ATP names yet to win a title

Lilli Tagger featured in this column on 7th May:

In last week’s Notes from the Tour article (view it here) we looked at men’s first-time winners on the ATP Tour.

Now it’s the women’s turn…

Here is a list of players in the current world Top 50 who are yet to win a singles title on the full-level WTA Tour…

Considering this year’s five female first-time champions to date have gone off at Outright Winner odds of 14/1, 40/1, 50/1, 50/1, and 100/1…

We should keep any eye out for these nine women:

Anna Kalinskaya
Ranked no.20, age 27 (runner-up in 3 finals, 2024-2025)

Maja Chwalinska
Ranked no.21, age 24 (500/1 French Open runner-up in June)

Alexandra Eala
Ranked no.28, age 21 (runner-up in one WTA final, 2025)

Hailey Baptiste
Ranked no.32, age 24 (currently out injured)

Jaqueline Cristian
Ranked no.39, age 28 (runner-up in 2 finals, 2021 and 2025)

Nikola Bartunkova
Ranked no.41, age 20 (won 3 lower-tier titles in 2025)

Xinyu Wang
Ranked no.42, age 24 (runner-up in 2 finals, 2025-2026)

Daria Snigur
Ranked no.43, age 24 (runner-up in first final, last week)

Oleksandra Oliynykova
Ranked no.44, age 25 (won 7 lower-tier titles in 2025)

That list is just one example of the research and thinking that goes into my full, members-only Ones to Watch service…

• Not a member yet? The US Open is coming up on 30th August and the build-up events are already underway in the States… Join Ones to Watch here >>  

Enjoy the tennis…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Ones to Watch