The Base Line: Cerundolo and Tiafoe claim milestone wins as Czech women dominate

[h2]Title winners[/h2][p]On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Diego Maradona's infamous 'Hand of God', another Argentine, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cerundolo-francisco/lWQ3G6gB/"]Francisco Cerundolo,[/a] captured the biggest title of his career on Sunday at the Queen's Club Championships in London, where he finally ended [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/paul-tommy/pd3ye1BS/"]Tommy Paul[/a]’s nine-match winning streak at the event to become the first Argentine to lift the trophy at the tournament. [/p][p]In a dramatic final, Cerundolo, who was boosted by the support of his father, who had taken a flight for the first time in his life to see his son in London, rallied from a set and a break down to earn a hard-fought [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/cerundolo-f-lWQ3G6gB/paul-t-pd3ye1BS/?mid=8S148chn"]6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3[/a] win after three hours and two minutes.[/p][p]It was the longest Queen’s Club final in history, ­beating the previous record of two hours and 57 ­minutes set by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cilic-marin/nLoK5syL/"]Marian Cilic[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/djokovic-novak/AZg49Et9/"]Novak ­Djokovic[/a] in 2018.[/p][embed guid="56090812-213c-413f-b213-58d6d864ae5b" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZYZQvA8vV0" social-type="youtube" /][p]The victory against the American was the icing on the cake for Cerundolo's week in West London, where he also claimed three-set victories against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kovacevic-aleksandar/AudsF90U/"]Aleksandar Kovacevic[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fery-arthur/SKxbA6KA/"]Arthur Fery,[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nakashima-brandon/ETGnbrpH/"]Brandon Nakashima[/a].[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tiafoe-frances/AHDLJaph/"]Frances Tiafoe[/a] also enjoyed the biggest day of his tennis career when he hit a new personal milestone in the all-American final at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, Germany.[/p][p]The 28-year-old showed great resilience throughout the tournament to defeat his long-time friend [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fritz-taylor/UH09iaZ6/"]Taylor Fritz[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/fritz-t-UH09iaZ6/tiafoe-f-AHDLJaph/?mid=OMMwJQTI"]6-4, 6-4[/a] on the Halle grass to become the first American to lift the trophy in the history of the ATP 500 event (since 1993).[/p][p]Tiafoe dropped just seven points on serve in the final and faced zero break points throughout the one-hour and seven-minute match, as he completely managed to shut down one of the premier grass-court players on tour.[/p][embed guid="8c5af168-0aaa-4a33-a78d-298e8d671fa6" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RcFzhgXnCc" social-type="youtube" /][p]A severe early-afternoon storm caused damage around the grounds in Berlin and forced fans to be evacuated as the Berlin Open final was delayed five and a half hours.[/p][p]But once the action got going, the 21-year-old [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/noskova-linda/zHMiAkw6/"]Linda Noskova[/a] clinched the second title of her career by defeating [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Jessica Pegula[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/noskova-l-zHMiAkw6/pegula-j-KdojxrAR/?mid=63RqUjxK"]6-4, 4-6, 6-3[/a] in a competitive final, earning her first grass-court crown. [/p][p]Thanks to the win, Noskova became the second Czech woman to win a title Sunday, after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bouzkova-marie/WMS3AdAb/"]Marie Bouzkova[/a] won her maiden grass court title by defeating [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/navarro-emma/WxLdKcAs/"]Emma Navarro[/a] in a three-hour thriller [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/bouzkova-m-WMS3AdAb/navarro-e-WxLdKcAs/?mid=dIaegCUi"]7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2[/a] in Nottingham. The match lasted nearly 2 hours and 57 minutes, which made it the longest on the WTA Tour this season.[/p][p]This was the fourth time in which two Czech women won WTA singles titles on the same day. [/p][embed guid="d354b427-2d6b-42f9-b615-4f25c1526271" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKfC75_5ZCI" social-type="youtube" /][h2]Biggest strugglers[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/swiatek-iga/jNyZsXZe/"]Iga Swiatek[/a], who will enter the Bad Homburg Open as the top seed, will look to the grass-court season to find relief following a challenging clay season, where [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kostyuk-marta/8CZqQdSa/"]Marta Kostyuk[/a] defeated her in the fourth round of the French Open.[/p][p]The 25-year-old Swiatek, who early in her career established herself firmly amongst the very best, now stands at a crossroads in her career as the world No. 3 attempts to reclaim her position at the summit of the sport.[/p][p]She has publicly admitted to battling deep-rooted mental and physical fatigue, noting that tennis has been "complicated in her head". Her previous success has been achieved on a platform of finding the delicate balance between her destructive groundstrokes, her outstanding athleticism, and her heavy topspin.[/p][p]But her formidable mental toughness, which previously has been her biggest weapon, is currently letting her down. [/p][embed guid="79c5620b-4be3-4968-ba9b-6972e03fa4eb" url="https://x.com/LukasFCB321/status/2068675778917667273" social-type="twitter" /][p]She parted ways with Belgian coach Wim Fissette in March 2026, ending their 18-month partnership after he led her to her first Wimbledon title. Instead, she brought in Francisco Roig to help her adapt her game to faster surfaces.[/p][p]It now remains to be seen whether the transition will work in favour of the Polish star to build momentum as she aims to defend last year's Wimbledon title. [/p][p]Meanwhile, after fairly promising performances at the French Open, clay-court specialists Joao Fonseca and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rublev-andrey/AeAn4gP0/"]Andrey Rublev[/a] probably won't relish the change of surface to grass.[/p][p]The fast courts don't suit their style of play, which was evident during their disappointing campaign in Halle, where they suffered early first-round defeats to Germany's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hanfmann-yannick/zLJYYbhm/"]Yannick Hanfmann[/a] and Poland's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hurkacz-hubert/zuHOBnY9/"]Hubert Hurkacz[/a], respectively. [/p][p]Fonseca crashed out of Wimbledon in the third round last year, while Rublev reached the Round of 16. [/p][h2]Standout moment[/h2][p]Controversial French tennis player [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/moutet-corentin/bX0EWcV9/"]Corentin Moutet[/a] did nothing to improve his bad boy reputation when he was handed a $40,000 fine from the ATP after he repeatedly said the F-word on live television following his first-round victory over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mpetshi-perricard-giovanni/ITe9m2F8/"]Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard[/a].[/p][p]The incident quickly escalated from a relaxed winner's interview into pure chaos as Moutet explained how hard it was to face his opponent's 142 mph serve by casually stating, "I was like, f**!"*. On-court interviewer Jenny Drummond did not waste any time cutting in, asking him to refrain from making use of the F-word.[/p][p]But that apparently only encouraged Moutet further as he faced Drummond, and immediately said, "F**, f***, f**[i]!"[/i], before repeating the trick again a further three times.[/p][p]The BBC then chose to abruptly cut the feed as studio host Clare Balding made an on-air apology.[/p][p]It proved to be a costly mistake by Moutet as the ATP penalised the Frenchman roughly $40,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct, which nearly wiped out his entire prize money earnings from the tournament week.[/p][p]Moutet subsequently posted the viral clip to his Instagram account, stating, [b]"I was just joking, I hope you guys didn't get offended. Thanks for the love."[/b] Moutet has reportedly filed an appeal against the fine. [/p][embed guid="d336f4b0-dee3-458c-bc41-10c31fecb481" url="https://x.com/Djoko_UTD/status/2067964750898872717" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Best rallies[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fery-arthur/SKxbA6KA/"]Arthur Fery[/a] defeated [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mannarino-adrian/fLOdtByM/"]Adrian Mannarino[/a] in straight sets, 7-6(7), 6-4, in the second round of the Queen's Club Championships, but the Frenchman came out on top in this rally when he, under intense pressure, turned defence into offence to seal the point with a smash. [/p][embed guid="fdf1cb87-cec6-4e9c-ad01-470f79e348a1" url="https://x.com/search?q=Mannarino%20Coutet&src=typed_query" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bartunkova-nikola/84ILHaZ4/"]Nikola Bartunkova[/a] was the surprise package at the Berlin Open as she came close to making a major upset against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sabalenka-aryna/vyhksgUB/"]Aryna Sabalenka[/a] in the quarter-final. She also showed plenty of promise in this rally against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shnaider-diana/028BdVOj/"]Diana Shnaider[/a] earlier in the tournament, wong-footing the Russian to claim a hard-fought point. [/p][embed guid="ba2cba27-2c0b-4caf-abf9-923a928a1328" url="https://x.com/search?q=shot%20of%20the%20day%20Berlin%20Open&src=typed_query" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Upcoming events[/h2][p]Men and women will put the finishing touches to their Wimbledon preparations this week at the Eastbourne Open, the final and popular grass-court tune-up before the Grand Slam tournament begins on June 29th.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/draper-jack/SWxNhpmK/"]Jack Draper[/a] will make his highly anticipated injury comeback while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fritz-taylor/UH09iaZ6/"]Taylor Fritz[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fonseca-joao/tv073LUc/"]Joao Fonseca[/a], and Queens-winner [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cerundolo-francisco/lWQ3G6gB/"]Francisco Cerundolo[/a] are set to headline the men's field. The women's tournament features a highly competitive field headlined by world No. 14 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/paolini-jasmine/noaX0EJn/"]Jasmine Paolini[/a] as the top seed and two-time champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/keys-madison/QwU996PK/"]Madison Keys[/a] as the second seed.[/p][p]There will also be valuable points at stake for players at the WTA 500 tournament at Bad Homburg (Germany) and the ATP 250 tournament in Mallorca (Spain).[/p][p][b]Follow the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/atp-singles/eastbourne/"]men's[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/wta-singles/eastbourne/"]women's[/a] tournaments at Eastbourne, as well as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/wta-singles/bad-homburg/"]Bad Homburg[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/atp-singles/mallorca/"]Mallorca[/a].[/b][/p]