WTA 250 Guangzhou: Second Career Title for Ann Li, Four Years After the First

Seeded number 2 in Guangzhou, Ann Li got the better of Lulu Sun in the final and ended a four-year drought without a trophy on the main tour.

The final of the WTA 250 tournament in Guangzhou pitted Ann Li against Lulu Sun. As the number 2 seed, the American was the favorite, especially since she hadn't lost a single set on her run so far.

The world number 44 had previously defeated Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (6-4, 7-6), Camila Osorio (7-5, 6-2), Elisabetta Cocciaretto (6-3, 6-4) and Zhang Shuai (5-2 ret.) to reach the final.

On the other side, Lulu Sun has struggled to back up her run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year. Having dropped to 116th in the world, the New Zealander, who came through the qualifying rounds, was playing her seventh match in this tournament.

After her wins against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (7-6, 7-6), Wang Yafan (6-3, 6-1), Catherine McNally (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) and Claire Liu (6-0, 7-6), Sun was hoping to win the first title of her career, after losing the final of the WTA 500 in Monterrey last year to Linda Noskova.

The match was decided in the first set. Solid on serve, the two players were separated by a tie-break. On her sixth set point, it was ultimately Li who took the lead after a first set lasting 1 hour and 6 minutes.

The 25-year-old American then pulled away in the second set and finally won in two sets (7-6, 6-2 in 1h40). This is the second title of Li's career, who had won her first title in Tenerife in 2021.

She will be world number 37, her career-high ranking, on Monday.
On the other side, Lulu Sun, who had never lost to Ann Li in two previous meetings, will have to wait to get her first WTA tour title. However, she can take consolation in returning to the top 100 next week. The left-hander will be world number 87.