From knee surgery to Mallorca champion: wildcard Geerlings sweeps Samson for first WTA 125 title

Ariana Geerlings completed a remarkable comeback on home soil on Sunday, the Spanish wildcard beating Czech second seed Laura Samson 6-2, 6-2 to win the Mallorca WTA 125 without dropping a set all week.

The 21-year-old, who is based in Murcia, won the first WTA 125 title of her career and the biggest trophy she has won so far. She became only the second champion of the Vanda Pharmaceuticals Mallorca Women’s Championships, after Argentina’s Solana Sierra won the first edition on the same clay courts in Magaluf last year.

A year lost to a knee injury

The title came barely three months after her return. Geerlings suffered a serious knee injury in August 2025 and spent close to a year away from the court before resuming competition in the summer, her ranking sliding a long way in her absence. She entered the main draw in Mallorca on a wildcard granted by the Spanish Tennis Federation.

“This has been a very special tournament for me and I am sure I will be back,” Geerlings said after the final, as quites by WTA.

Tournament ambassador Gabriela Sabatini, a former World No. 3, praised a wonderful match and what Geerlings had achieved after such a long absence.

Facing Samson for the first time, Geerlings was rarely troubled. After an early break each way, she pulled clear to take the first set 6-2 in just over 30 minutes. Samson came back from 0-2 to 2-2 in the second set, but Geerlings broke for 3-2 at the end of a long game and broke again for 5-2 before closing out the title.

Samson, one of the brightest prospects in the Czech game

Her run in Mallorca began with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Bosnian wildcard Tea Kovacevic and a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spanish wildcard Lucia Cortez Llorca. She then beat Austrian top seed Julia Grabher 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the quarterfinals and Maltese Francesca Curmi 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals.

Samson, an 18-year-old ranked No. 113, is one of the brightest prospects in the Czech game. She won the 2023 Wimbledon girls’ doubles title with Alena Kovackova and reached the 2024 Roland-Garros girls’ singles final. In 2024 in Prague, she became the first player born in 2008 or later to win a WTA main-draw match.

In Mallorca, she opened with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win over Spanish wildcard Aran Teixido Garcia and beat French qualifier Lucie Nguyen Tan 6-0, 6-3. Spanish No. 5 seed Andrea Lazaro Garcia retired against her trailing 6-0 in the quarterfinals, and she edged past Slovenian No. 6 seed Tamara Zidansek 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the semifinals.