Garland claims Canberra International title

Chinese Taipei’s Joanna Garland has handled the very windy conditions in Canberra to get the better of Polina Kudermetova, and claim her first WTA125 level title.

Both players had to frequently redo their ball tosses in perhaps the windiest final at the Canberra International.

I was photographing the match and it was even difficult to keep steady in the strong winds. Not only was it windy, it was extremely hot.

Garland was able to get one break in the first set to take that 6-4, In the second set the world no. 129 broke her opponent twice to claim the match 6-4, 6-2.

Kudermetova had a wonderful start to the 2025 season when she won seven matches in Brisbane after reaching the main draw as a qualifier, she would eventually lose in the final against Aryna Sabalenka.

The pushed Kudermetova up to no. 57 in the rankings. After losing the rankings points from that tournanment she is now ranked at no. 167.

With the title, Garland has moved to a career-high no. 117 on the live rankings.

Garland was on a roll after dropping her first set of the tournament in round one in the first set. After that she didn’t lose a set, and in today’s match, Garland was not broken on serve.

The player from Taipei collects $33,650 in prize money for her week in Canberra.

Tennis ACT’s athlete of the year, Ashleigh Simes presented the winner’s trophy.

During her speech in the presentation, Garland thanked her coach Tim for making the long trip to Australia and for the 10 years of work together.