At the age of 31, Tamara Korpatsch is having the best year of her tennis career.
Ranked 123 in the world in January, the year started quietly.
That changed in May, as she moved to No. 87 after making the final of the WTA 125 Catalonia Open Solgironès in Spain. The German narrowly lost to Australia’s Daria Kasatkina, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, in 149 minutes.
Later that month, Korpatsch achieved her best ever grand slam result, making the third round of Roland-Garros. There she lost to eventual quarterfinalist Elina Svitolina, 2-6, 3-6.
Away from her favoured clay surface, she did not win a match on the lawn courts of Libéma, Berlin, Bad Homburg or Wimbledon. Indeed, in the middle two events, she was unable to win through the first round of qualifying.
The second clay swing of the season provided the first match she won in ten weeks – at the WTA 125 Nordea Open in Sweden. The tournament ended for her in the second round, where she won just three games.
Back on the WTA main tour for her next event, the 250 Hamburg Ladies Open, her recent form did not suggest she would take the title.
But on a remarkable weekend when three players won their first main tour events – Quentin Halys (Kitzbühel); Luca Van Assche (Estoril); Lilly Tagger (Prague) – Korpatsch won her second in hometown Hamburg.
Her previous title was at the 2023 Transylvania Open, a WTA 250 played on indoor hard courts. To earn the trophy, she had defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse, 6-3, 6-4.
This year in her sixth consecutive Hamburg Open, Korpatsch’s progress to the final was aided by two retirements. During the first round, Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva retired due to an Achilles injury with Korpatsch leading 4-6, 7-5, 1-0. The semi against Mayar Sherif ended through a leg injury, 6-1, 2-0.
In between, Korpatsch defeated wild card Julia Stusek and 2nd seed Anhelina Kalinina in three-setters.
Her opponent in the final would be Anna Bondár of Hungary.
With a break of serve, Korpatsch headed out to 3-0. Soon Bondár got going and managed a break of her own for 3-4, before Korpatsch broke again then held.
The second set was even at 2-2 when Korpatsch broke. In what became the final game, she broke again to claim the trophy with a 6-3, 6-3 scoreline.
The champion had the match covered with superior serving and returning.
Through this win, she extended her head-to-head against Bondár to 5-0.
More importantly, that weekend the veteran Korpatsch joined 18 year old Lilly Tagger, the Prague Open winner, in cracking the top 50 for the first time. Korpatsch landed at 46, two places above Tagger.
Whatever else happens in 2026, Tamara Korpatsch can be well pleased with her year.
Title photo by MSC Hamburg Open