Alison Riske wins the Upper Austria Ladies Linz

Alison Riske is the fourth American to win the WTA “Upper Austria Ladies Linz”, after Chanda Rubin (1997), Lindsay Davenport (2000, 2001) and Coco Gauff (2019). Alison Riske defeated Romanian Jaqueline Cristian at the TipsArena on Friday night in front of nearly 2,000 spectators, in a high-class, dramatic final of 2:24 hours with 2:6, 6:2, 7:5. The 31-year-old winner received $25,000 in prize money, while the 23-year-old finalist received $14,000.

Neither Alison Riske, number 73 in the WTA ranking, nor Jaqueline Cristian (number 100) dared to dream of grabbing the victory trophy at the WTA tournament “Upper Austria Ladies Linz 2021.” But luck was good for both of them: The US-American profited from the injury-related retirement of her compatriot Danielle Collins in the semifinals. The Romanian, on the other hand, had initially failed in qualifying to Lesia Tsurenko (UKR), came into the main draw after the cancellation of her compatriot Sorana Cirstea as “Lucky Loser” and should have played against Simona Halep (also Romanian) in the semi-final. But the 30-year-old had to withdraw because of knee problems. Thus, 23-year-old Jaqueline Cristian was facing the “match of her life.” And her coach Thomas Drouet had promised her an exclusive Louis Vuitton bag as a special gift in the event of a final victory. Maybe it will work next time!?

The well-known Poxrucker Sisters set the musical mood for the surprise finale between Jaqueline Cristian and Alison Riske. Numerous guests of honour took their seats in the grandstand – headed by the Provincial Governor Thomas Stelzer, Linz’s Vice-Mayor Karin Hörzing and numerous Mayors from Upper Austria, the tournament director Sandra Reichel had invited to the final. They were all just as enthusiastic about the final as the fans, who gave the two players “standing ovations” after the matchball.

Cristian conquered the hearts of the fans

Alison Riske only got away from her final trauma at the last moment of this memorable match – the US-American has been in a WTA final ten times and had lost eight times. The triumph in Linz in her eleventh final was also her third title on the WTA Tour. “Above all, I want to thank the crowd, you guys were so great! It’s almost sold out and that’s something we haven’t had in almost two years. The tournament is really first class! I hope I’ll be back here soon. I’m so grateful”, said the beaming winner. And Jaqueline Cristian said: “I’m very happy that we were able to share this moment. There are so many emotions in me right now. The spectators have been great, and they’ve been great all week. I hope to see you again next year. I thank my coach and everyone who organised this great tournament.”

A role model for Upper Austria. “This tournament is a role model for what we need in Upper Austria. Especially this year we would like to thank Tournament Director Sandra Reichel and her team as well as the players for offering us this tournament”, said Provincial Governor Thomas Stelzer. “We saw great tennis this week, a big thank you to all the partners and sponsors who made this tournament possible. Congratulations to the players”, said Vice-Mayor Karin Hörzing before the award ceremony.

Russian success in the doubles final

The doubles final at the “2021 Upper Austria Ladies Linz” ended with a Russian triumph! Natela Dzalamidze/Kamilla Rakhimova were number three and in the end number one – with a 6:4, 6:2 win over the Chinese duo Xinyu Wang/Saisai Zheng. Dzalamidze was not only praised for her doubles partner but also for the fans of Linz: “This is the first time this year that we’ve been able to experience such an atmosphere in doubles. It’s all the more encouraging and has helped us a lot”. The winners received a prize money of 9,000 US Dollars, the finalists received 5,000 US Dollars.