{"id":2149287,"date":"2026-09-17T11:15:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2149287"},"modified":"2026-09-17T11:15:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:15:59","slug":"the-wta-stars-to-win-maiden-titles-in-2026-featuring-alex-eala-and-two-teenagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2149287","title":{"rendered":"The WTA stars to win maiden titles in 2026: Featuring Alex Eala and two teenagers"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">The WTA stars to win maiden titles in 2026: Featuring Alex Eala and two teenagers<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/shahidaj\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Shahida Jacobs                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"17 Sep 2026 12:15 PM\" data-ps-date=\"17 Sep 2026 12:15 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1789643759\"><br \/>\n                            17 Sep 2026 12:15 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img 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items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 dark:hidden h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_light.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn-hidden\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"The WTA stars to win maiden titles in 2026: Featuring Alex Eala and two teenagers\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Alex-Eala-Lilli-Tagger-and-Robin-Montgomery-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured: Alex Eala, Lilli Tagger and Robin Montgomery\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Alex Eala, Lilli Tagger and Robin Montgomery                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\"><!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/alex-eala\">Alex Eala<\/a> is one of eight women to win a maiden WTA Tour singles title so far during the 2026 season with teenager Kristina Liutova the youngest player on the list.<\/p>\n<p>Nine months into the campaign and 29 different players have won singles tournaments with Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Mirra Andreeva joint top as they each won three titles.<\/p>\n<p>Among the 29 players in the winners\u2019 circle, eight of them are newcomers as they won their first-ever title.<\/p>\n<h2>The 8 WTA stars to win a maiden singles title in 2026\u2026<\/h2>\n<h2>Sara Bejlek \u2013 Abu Dhabi Open<\/h2>\n<p>Seven days after turning 20, Bejlek enjoyed a magical run as she came through qualifying to win her maiden title at the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi in February.<\/p>\n<h2>WTA Features<\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/there-are-only-two-players-on-the-wta-tour-with-more-matches-than-alex-eala-this-year\">There are only two players on the WTA Tour with more matches than Alex Eala this year<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/2026-wta-prize-money-list-elena-rybakina-10m-aryna-sabalenka-linda-noskova-coco-gauff-feature\">2026 WTA Prize Money List: Elena Rybakina overtakes Aryna Sabalenka, Linda Noskova as 65 players hit $1m mark<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Czech defeated the likes of Jelena Ostapenko, Sonay Kartal and Clara Tauson to reach her first-ever WTA Tour singles final.<\/p>\n<p>In the final, she beat top seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 to capture her first title aged 20 years and seven days.<\/p>\n<h2>Cristina Bucsa \u2013 Merida Open<\/h2>\n<p>The Spaniard is the veteran on this list as she was 28 years and 59 days when she lifted her first winner\u2019s trophy on the WTA Tour in March.<\/p>\n<p>Four months after finishing runner-up in her first final at the Hong Kong Open, Bucsa went one better as she defeated top seed Jasmine Paolini in straight sets in the semi-final in Mexico and followed it up with a three set win over Magdalena Frech in the final.<\/p>\n<h2>Petra Marcinko \u2013 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem<\/h2>\n<p>The Czech, who won the 2022 Australian Open Girls\u2019 singles title, reached her first final in Rabat in May and she dropped only one set en route to winning the title.<\/p>\n<p>The 20-year-old Marcinko won her first title when Anhelina Kalinina retired with the score 6-2, 3-0 in the youngster\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n<h2>Robin Montgomery \u2013 Libema Open<\/h2>\n<p>The American was ranked No 484 at the start of the tournament, which meant she had to come through qualifying to play in the main draw, but by the end of the event she had become the fifth lowest-ranked player to win a title on the WTA Tour.<\/p>\n<p>Aged 21 years and 282 days, Montgomery didn\u2019t beat a seeded player during her run and she was the first player to win a final by a walkover since Victoria Azarenka in 2020, as eighth seed Barbora Krejcikova withdrew from the showpiece match due to illness<\/p>\n<h2>Lilli Tagger \u2013 Prague Open<\/h2>\n<p>The 18-year-old Austrian became the first teenager to win a tournament in 2026 as she also became the first player born in 2008 to win a singles title on the WTA Tour.<\/p>\n<p>Tagger, who won the 2025 French Open Girls\u2019 singles title, finished runner-up in her maiden Tour final in November 2025 and in July 2026 she went one better by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/18-year-old-youngster-tipped-for-success-by-jannik-sinner-wins-first-wta-title\">beating Diana Snigur in the final<\/a> in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<h2>Kristina Liutova \u2013 Memphis Classic<\/h2>\n<p>The 16-year-old Liutova notched up quite a few milestones with her run at the WTA 250 event as she became the first player born in the 2010s to win a singles title, the youngest player (16 years and 181 days) since Coco Gauff in 2019 to win a title and she was also the first to win a title on her main draw debut since Maria Timofeeva in 2023 (the 10th in total).<\/p>\n<p>The teenager won two qualifying matches and then took out top seed Alexandrova and sixth seed Caty McNally en route to the final.<\/p>\n<p>In the final, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/wta-tour\/16-year-old-kristina-liutova-ranking-points-prize-money-title-run-memphis-open\">she defeated Czech Darja Vidmanova 1-6, 6-1, 6-3<\/a> to become the youngest title winner in 2026.<\/p>\n<h2>Alexandra Eala \u2013 Washington DC Open<\/h2>\n<p>Rising Filipina star Eala finished runner-up in her first-ever WTA Tour final at the Eastbourne Open in June 2025 and just over a year later she finally added her name to the Tour title winners\u2019 circle with her victory at Washington DC in August.<\/p>\n<p>Aged 21 eyars and 72 days, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/everything-alex-eala-said-after-winning-washington-dc-open\">Eala became the first Filipino to win a WTA title<\/a> and she is also the first Southeast Asian player to win a singles title at the WTA 500 level or higher.<\/p>\n<p>And she did it the hard way as she beat former world No 4 Zheng Qinwen, defending champion Leylah Fernandez, second seed Elina Svitolina and four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka to reach the final.<\/p>\n<p>Eala then overcame a sluggish start in the final against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/jessica-pegula-major-change-alex-eala-washington-open\">top seed Jessica Pegula<\/a>, winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 to secure her first trophy.<\/p>\n<h2>Diane Parry \u2013 Monterrey Open<\/h2>\n<p>Frenchwoman Parry is the most recent player to win a first title as she achieved her feat in August in Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old was unseeded at the WTA 500 event and defeated sixth seed Donna Vekic, top seed Alexandrova and fifth seed Ann Li to reach her maiden final.<\/p>\n<p>She then defeated Elise Mertens 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 to win her first-ever title.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End --><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The WTA stars to win maiden titles in 2026: Featuring Alex Eala and two teenagers Shahida Jacobs 17 Sep 2026 12:15 PM Alex Eala, Lilli Tagger and Robin Montgomery Alex Eala is one of eight women to win a maiden WTA Tour singles title so far during the 2026 season with teenager Kristina Liutova the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-2149287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2149287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2149287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2149287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2149287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}