Pigato sweeps past Knutson 6-4, 6-2 for the Caldas da Rainha title

Lisa Pigato, the No. 3 seed, beat Czech No. 8 seed Gabriela Knutson 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday afternoon to win the Caldas da Rainha Ladies Open, the 23-year-old Italian’s second career WTA 125 title after Madrid last April.

Ranked No. 130, Pigato had the harder road and was not favored by the predictive models along the way, notably in the quarterfinals against Switzerland’s Susan Bandecchi, whom she beat 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 after edging Sweden’s Kajsa Rinaldo Persson 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

She had opened her week with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Portuguese wildcard Sana Garakani and went on to beat Belgian No. 5 seed Jeline Vandromme 6-3, 7-5 in the semifinals. Back-to-back three-set wins behind her, she needed no decider in the final.

For Knutson, ranked No. 184, it is a second straight defeat in the Caldas da Rainha final, a year after she lost the 2025 title match to Polina Iatcenko. The Czech had beaten Japan’s Aoi Ito 7-6 (4), 6-2, Dutchwoman Anouk Koevermans 6-3, 6-2, American qualifier Malaika Rapolu 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 and Slovak Mia Pohankova 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 on her way back to the final.