SURBITON/STARNBERG, June 5, 2022

Alison Van Uytvanck captured the title of the Surbiton Trophy, an ITF World Tennis Tour W100 grass-court event held at the Surbiton Racket & Fitness Club. In a repeat of the 2021 Nottingham Trophy final Van Uytvanck defeated Australian Arina Rodionova 7-6(3), 6-2 in one hour 38 minutes to defend the ranking points she won at the same event last year.

The 28-year-old Belgian, currently ranked World No. 60 but with a career-high of 37, showed the grass-court prowess that took her to the Wimbledon round of 16 in 2018 to see off the challenge of the Australian in the first set, and accelerated in the second set to victory to claim her 20th singles title.

“I had a title to defend, last year I won in Nottingham (Nottingham Trophy 2021) so I basically defended all of the points so I’m really happy.  I love to play on grass so I’m really happy with the win,” van Uytvanck said.

“My level rose throughout the week, I just love to have the low bounces, the serves, it’s important you have to stay aggressive, that’s what I like a lot about the grass and that’s what I had to do.  Also the variety with the slice is what I did today and be patient a little bit, so yeah happy about that.

“I wasn’t sure whether to come after Roland Garros but I’m so happy I came. I love to play on grass, I think it’s a really nice Centre court.”

Rodionova said: “It’s been a great week. I was the last one in the main draw so I really didn’t think I was going to make it all the way till Sunday. Obviously, it’s a tough day for me today. Alison played some great tennis today but at least we both defended our points from last year because we played finals against each other last year so we did exactly the same, unfortunately for me. Hopefully next year will be different.”