A year ago Harriet Dart was ranked 224th in the world, and at 30 many had stopped expecting a breakthrough. On Sunday in Guangzhou the British qualifier beat Austrian 18-year-old Lilli Tagger 4-6 6-3 6-4 to win her first WTA singles title. She credits much of it to Marion Bartoli, the 2013 Wimbledon champion who has coached her part-time this season.
“She really believes in me – that means the world to me,” Dart told BBC Sport. “Seeing a Grand Slam champion having that belief has made me believe a lot more in myself.”
The title takes Dart from 115th to a projected 83rd when the rankings are updated on Monday. That returns her to the top 100 and should give her direct entry into the Australian Open main draw.
Seven matches, six of them in three sets
Dart won the title the hard way. She came through two qualifying rounds, then beat Tatiana Prozorova, second seed Janice Tjen and fifth seed Paula Badosa. In the semi-finals she saved three match points against 16-year-old wildcard Sun Xinran before winning 5-7 7-6(1) 6-0. She lost the first set in each of her last three matches, and six of her seven wins that week went to a deciding set.
The final lasted two hours and 18 minutes and followed the same pattern. Tagger broke in the opening game and led 2-0. Dart broke back at 4-4, but the Austrian broke again straight away to take the set. Dart’s only break of the second set came in the eighth game, and she served out the set 6-3.
The decider had five breaks of serve. Dart went ahead for good in the seventh game and saved two break points to hold for 5-3. She then missed two championship points on Tagger’s serve: the first was saved with a big serve and she netted a forehand on the second. Serving for the title, she held to 15 and finished with an unreturned serve.
It was also revenge. Tagger had beaten Dart in the final of the ITF W100 event in Fujairah earlier this year.
“I’ll try not to get too emotional,” Dart said on court, before thanking her boyfriend Stephen Falck, fitness coach Dario Gonfiantini and her family. She also thanked Bartoli: “My coach Marion, really appreciate all your hard work.”
The Bartoli effect
Bartoli is 42 and a former world number seven. She began working with Dart at the start of the season, when the Briton was ranked outside the top 160. The two live near each other in Dubai and train there in blocks rather than travelling together every week. Bartoli watched the final from home, and Dart worked from her coach’s notes in China.
“It’s been quite incredible to work with Marion, and I was really fortunate she was open to working with me,” Dart said. “I’m obviously at a very different stage of my career to someone who is, say, 20. But I still feel I have a lot to improve and there are gains to be made.”
The problems were well known. Dart’s slow second serve led to double faults, and people questioned whether she could handle the big moments. Coming from a set down three times in a row, and saving match points in the semi-final, answers the second question better than any statistic.
“More than anything, Marion is just a great person,” Dart said. “She cares about me as a person first and foremost, as well as improving me as a tennis player, of course.”
Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keothavong said Dart “has always set the bar high with her professionalism” and that “there is certainly more belief and confidence now”.
What it means for Dart and British tennis
The results back that up. Dart has won 23 of her 34 matches this season, the best win percentage of her career, and 19 of 24 on hard courts since Wimbledon. Her previous best on the WTA Tour was a semi-final in Cluj-Napoca in 2024, the year she reached a career-high 70th, made the Wimbledon third round and the US Open second round. She then spent most of the next two seasons outside the top 100.
Her win adds to a strong autumn for British women. Sonay Kartal reached the final of the WTA 1000 event in Wuhan, Katie Boulter made the semi-finals in Osaka and Hannah Klugman won the W100 title in Wrexham. Dart was in the squad for September’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals but did not play. A title and a top-100 ranking make her harder to leave out next time.
Her season is not over yet. She goes straight to the Chennai Open, where she plays Polina Kudermetova in the first round. Beyond that, the target is to get back to and beat her career-high ranking, with more time alongside the coach whose belief helped her get here.
“I’ve learned a lot from her and look forward to continuing to learn more,” Dart said. “I hope we will be able to spend more weeks together next year.”
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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