Tagger wins maiden WTA title in Prague, becomes youngest player in the top 50

Lilli Tagger, an 18-year-old Austrian coached by Francesca Schiavone, won her first WTA title in Prague, beating No. 8 seed Daria Snigur to crash into the world’s top 50 as its youngest member.

LINZ,AUSTRIA,07.APR.26 – TENNIS – WTA Tour, Upper Austria Ladies Linz. Image shows the rejoicing of Lilli Tagger (AUT).

Cédric Rouquette

July 26, 2026

Lilli Tagger, the 18-year-old Austrian playing her first main draw at the event, won her first WTA title on Sunday, beating No. 8 seed Daria Snigur of Ukraine 7-6, 6-2 in the final of the Livesport Prague Open. The result lifts Tagger from No. 74 to a new career-high No. 45, making her the youngest player in the world’s top 50.

Snigur came out of the blocks fastest, breaking twice to open a 3-0 lead in the first set and looking firmly in control. Tagger settled, working her way back to 3-1 and 4-2, but Snigur held to push to 5-2, one game from serving out the set.

Tagger dug in from there: she broke back to close to 5-3, then broke again as Snigur dropped serve to level at 5-4, and levelled the set outright at 5-5. Both players held to force a tiebreak at 6-6, and it was Tagger who took control there too, racing through it 7-3 to close out the opening set 7-6.

The momentum carried straight into the second set. Tagger broke twice in the opening four games to open a 1-4 lead, and never let Snigur back into the match, closing it out 6-2 to seal her maiden WTA title.

Tagger’s second WTA showpiece on the WTA Tour

Tagger has defeated No. 3 seed Sara Bejlek in the quarter-finals and No. 2 seed Barbora Krejcikova in a three-set semi-final.

She becomes only the second player ranked outside the top 50 to win the Prague title, after Marie Bouzkova did so as world No. 66 in 2022, and the lowest-ranked champion in the tournament’s history.

The final was Tagger’s second WTA showpiece of her young career, after finishing runner-up at Jiujiang in 2025. Snigur, appearing in her first career final, had also enjoyed a breakthrough week, reaching a new career-high ranking of No. 54 after wins that included a run to her first WTA final.

Tagger’s title also makes her the second teenager to win a WTA crown this year, after Mirra Andreeva, who has already claimed three titles in 2026. Born in February 2008, Tagger followed a strong junior pedigree into the professional ranks, having won the 2025 Roland-Garros girls’ singles title, becoming the first Austrian to do so.