Teenage British star Hannah Klugman lifted the biggest title of her career as the Lexus Wrexham Open brought a week of world-class women’s tennis to the city. The 17-year-old did not drop a set all week, beating French player Elsa Jacquemot 6-2, 6-4 in front of a capacity crowd of 720 at Wrexham Tennis & Padel Centre. There was more home success in the doubles, with Freya Christie and Eden Silva also taking the trophy.
A Familiar Welcome for Wrexham’s Megan Davies
The World Tennis Tour W100 event got under way with qualifying on Sunday 18 October. Wrexham-born Megan Davies, who first picked up a racket at the venue aged four, received a wild card for the first qualifying round. She was beaten 6-1, 6-1 by experienced Australian Lizette Cabrera, but relished playing in front of family and friends.
“It was really exciting,” said Davies, who recently started a PhD at Cardiff Metropolitan University. She added that playing at this year’s tournament had been one of her goals, despite limited match practice because of university commitments. Facing such a tough draw, she treated the match as an exciting challenge with no pressure on herself.
Elsewhere, Eliz Maloney, a quarter-finalist when the event was held in Shrewsbury in 2022, progressed after Indianna Spink retired injured. Maloney summed up the depth of a field that included seven of the world’s top 150 in the main draw. “A lot of good names, very stacked, so it will just be good to compete against players that I’m not used to competing against,” she said.
A Strong Start for the British Contingent
Hannah Klugman set the tone in the first round, beating America’s Fiona Crawley 6-2, 6-2 despite the world No. 209 being ranked 132 places above her. Jodie Burrage, a regular in Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup team, followed with a 6-2, 7-5 win over the Netherlands’ Eva Vedder. British No. 7 Alicia Dudeney also impressed, beating Germany’s Tessa Johanna Brockmann 6-4, 6-4 days after winning a W35 title in Birmingham.
“It’s always special playing in Britain, you have the crowd on your side and for a tournament like this there’s a great crowd,” said Klugman. Burrage praised the atmosphere too, describing the crowd as “really, really good.” Dudeney was equally impressed by the quality on show, saying, “It’s a really strong line up this year.”
The second round brought a hat-trick of British wins as all three booked places in the quarter-finals. Dudeney extended her winning run to seven matches by beating seventh seed Susan Bandecchi 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 in two hours and 51 minutes. Klugman beat Anna Siskova 6-2, 6-4, while Burrage knocked out fourth seed Noma Noha Akugue 6-1, 7-6, winning the tiebreak 11-9.
An All-British Semi-Final in the Carden Park Arena
Klugman continued her fine form in the quarter-finals, beating Slovakia’s sixth seed Rebecca Sramkova 6-3, 6-2 in a little over an hour. Burrage then joined her in the last four with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Spain’s fifth seed Marina Bassols Ribera. Dudeney’s run ended against Elsa Jacquemot, who won 7-6, 6-2.
“Being in the semis of a W100 is new ground for me and also I’m playing against some really high level players,” said Klugman. Burrage, 27, was looking forward to facing a player around 10 years her junior. “It will be a fun match. I’ve never played her,” she said.
In front of a near sell-out crowd, Klugman won the all-British semi-final 6-1, 6-4 to reach the biggest final of her career. Jacquemot joined her after beating the Netherlands’ Suzan Lamens 6-2, 7-6. Reaching the final alone was enough to lift Klugman more than 100 places in the world rankings.
Lexus Wrexham Open Finals Day Delivers Double Home Glory
In Sunday’s final, Klugman broke Jacquemot in the third game and never looked back. She won 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 23 minutes. Klugman follows last year’s champion Mimi Xu as the latest British winner of the tournament. Having started the week ranked 341, the former world junior No. 1 is set to break into the top 250 for the first time.
“I was shaking afterwards, but just so, so happy and proud of myself again,” said Klugman. Christie and Silva then beat fourth seeds Hiroko Kuwata and Ankita Raina 6-2, 6-3 to win the doubles title. It is the fifth World Tennis Tour title the pair have won together this year.
Richard Joyner, tournament director for the LTA, said, “This year’s event has gone up another level. This is true of the player experience, spectator experience, and the overall atmosphere.” Promoter Dave Courteen also mentioned how proud he was that the tournament happened the week Wrexham was shortlisted for UK City of Culture 2029. Look back at the build-up in our Lexus Wrexham Open 2026 preview.
Pictures: James Baylis and Malcolm Couzens.
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