Nardine Garas wins

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Nardine Garas won the London Open 2024, beating Millie Tomlinson in the English capital’s final at Cumberland Lawn Tennis Club. Nardine was taking on England’s Millie Tomlinson, who won this event back in 2015 and who had come through a dramatic five-game encounter with another Egyptian, Hana Ismail, in the semi-finals.

Garas, meanwhile, had beaten the unseeded Kiera Marshall 3-1 in her semi-finals and was targeting a fourth title of 2024.

She started in impressive fashion, too, crunching the ball to the corners with ferocious power whenever the opportunity presented itself, taking game one 11-7 in just under eight minutes.

She then took game two in less than six minutes, converting a 6-1 lead into 11-5, and despite losing three of the first four points in game three, she was soon on the brink of glory at 8-3 up.

Tomlinson kept fighting until the end, perhaps setting some nerves jangling in the opposing corner as she moved from 9-4 down to 10-8 down, but she was unable to overhaul Garas’ lead, with the Egyptian sending her the wrong way with another hard-hit backhand down the line, clenching her fist in celebration.