Week in Review: Mertens, Maria kick off grass season with titles

Just like that, here we are in the thick of grass-court season. And the opening week of the swing on the lawns already provided a number of engrossing stories and memorable moments on the Hologic WTA Tour.

With the long-awaited return of Queen's Club and the latest edition of 's-Hertogenbosch in the books, the stars of the WTA will continue on the turf as they march toward the grass-court Grand Slam at Wimbledon -- which is somehow only two weeks away.

Here is a look back at some of the highlights from last week:

By the numbers: Two record-setting titles

Tatjana Maria's journey to the WTA 500 HSBC Championships title at the Queen's Club in London was significant for many reasons.

Any champion at the tournament would have been historic: This was the first time Queen's Club was part of the WTA calendar since 1973, 52 years ago.

But Maria, a mother of two, was an especially notable winner considering the following stats:

• Oldest singles champion (37) on the Hologic WTA Tour since another returning mom, Serena Williams, won the 2020 Auckland title at age 38
• Oldest player to reach a WTA 500 final, surpassing Venus Williams, who was 36 years old when she finished runner-up at 2016 Stanford
• Beat four Top 20 players in a row. The only other time she beat multiple Top 20 players at one tournament was during her semifinal run at 2022 Wimbledon -- which were her most recent Top 20 wins until this week
• Perfect 4-0 in WTA singles finals, but this was her first final and title above WTA 250-level
• Before Queen's, had not won a match since making the Bogota quarterfinals in the first week of April
• Ranked No. 86 coming into the event, Maria exactly halved her ranking on Monday to No. 43, and she is one spot shy of her career-high ranking of No. 42.

Maria spoke after her big win: "People were always saying, 'Oh, now maybe it's time. You are too old. You are ...' Whatever reason they say sometimes. 

"I'm a good example that even in my age you still can win big trophies. I'm super proud of myself that I could win this tournament, because actually, I believed always in it, and my husband too. That's why we kept also going, because there was always this belief that I can win big tournaments and that I can do great things on the court."

Meanwhile, at the Libema Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, Elise Mertens won her second title of the year. 

The historic part of Mertens' 's-Hertogenbosch run came in the semifinals, when she saved 11 match points in her comeback against two-time Libema Open champion Ekaterina Alexandrova. This is the most match points saved by an eventual winner during the 2020s.

With her latest title, Mertens bounced back from a three-set first-round loss to a wild card at Roland Garros -- but that narrow defeat seems very different in retrospect. That wild card was Lois Boisson, who went all the way to the semifinals.

Honor Roll

There was more to this week beyond our two tour-level singles champions. Here are a few other players who deserve the spotlight:

Amanda Anisimova: The American was the last player to fall to Maria's slice-and-dice game at Queen's, but she still beat two Top 10 players at one event for the first time in her career. This was also her first career grass-court semifinal and final.

February's WTA 1000 Doha champion Anisimova has now made multiple finals in a calendar year for the first time. She reached a new career-high ranking of No. 13 on Monday.

Zheng Qinwen: She also had a career-best grass-court run at Queen's, at last making her first quarterfinal and semifinal on that surface. The Chinese star is up to a new career-high ranking of No. 4 on Monday.

Elena-Gabriela Ruse: The Romanian clinched a spot in her fourth career WTA singles final this past week, making the Libema Open showpiece as a qualifier. Her ranking skyrockets from No. 80 to No. 58.

Iva Jovic, Tereza Valentova and Nuria Parrizas Diaz: In another busy week on the WTA 125 circuit, veteran Parrizas Diaz and teenagers Jovic and Valentova were the singles champions. Read more here.

Social Buzz: The creator corner

A few of the WTA's best branched out into different fields this week. First, Ukraine's top player Elina Svitolina released a new capsule clothing collection, co-created with Ukrainian fashion designer Svitlana Bevza.

And former World No. 1 players Serena and Venus Williams announced they will launch a video podcast in August. Working in a partnership with social media platform X, the legendary sisters will co-host the project.

Hot Shots

At Queen's Club, runner-up Amanda Anisimova and qualifier Anastasia Zakharova executed two of the top plays of the week:

And in 's-Hertogenbosch, Elisabetta Cocciaretto punctuated her semifinal run with a superb overhead:

Next Up

The grass-court swing continues with two more key Hologic WTA Tour events on the Road to Wimbledon.

Berlin: Draws | Scores | Order of play | 411 | Draw reaction

One of the most stacked fields of the year thus far will contest the WTA 500 Berlin Tennis Open by HYLO. Nine of the Top 10 players in the PIF WTA Rankings will contend for the trophy in Germany's capital.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff, and defending champion Jessica Pegula are the Top 3 seeds. Main-draw play starts Monday.

Nottingham: Draws | Scores | Order of play

Also beginning on Monday is the WTA 250 Lexus Nottingham Open. British hope Katie Boulter will be back in an attempt to defend her title, with No. 1 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia also in the field.