Siegemund vs Sramkova: Hua Hin Final Analysis (WTA 250)
Sramkova overpowered Siegemund to claim her first WTA Tour title
One week after reaching her first Tour final in Monastir, Rebecca Sramkova (WTA #136) defeated Laura Siegemund (WTA #97) 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Thailand Open to capture her first WTA title.
For Sramkova, these last couple of weeks have been a long time coming. Seven years, to be precise.
Back in 2017, at age 20, Sramkova was knocking on the door of the Top-100, at #111. But that would remain her career-high ranking until May of this year, as physical problems began. Back, shoulder, abs and a stress fracture in one leg, all stalled Sramkova’s progress.
Because the Slovak was born with a condition that left her with little sight in her left eye, predicting her full potential may be difficult. Nonetheless, the big-hitting game she showed had more than enough quality to crack the Top-100.
To her credit, Sramkova never lost belief and determination, despite the setbacks. The reward has finally arrived in the form of a breakthrough 2024. A 13th ITF Tour title at W50 Porto, in February, kickstarted her season. Then, a run from qualies to the 4th round in Rome secured first-time entry to the Top-100. Now, with 9 victories in the last 10 matches and a total of 15 main-draw Tour wins on the year after registering just 3 in all previous seasons combined, Sramkova is guaranteed a jump to #61 and an opportunity to settle nicely inside the Top-100.
The Hua Hin final was a battle between Siegemund’s guile and Sramkova’s power. A look at the following numbers is enough to identify who was able to execute the gameplan.
Siegemund won 6 of 15 (40%) points when attempting a drop shot/drop volley.
Sramkova hit twice more winners (26 to 13) while making the same number of unforced errors as Siegemund (24).
In short, Sramkova overpowered Siegemund and didn’t allow her opponent to change things up.
Not even the pressure of serving for a maiden WTA Tour title slowed down Sramkova. Fittingly, the last 3 points of the final, shown below, can be used to describe the whole match.
📺source: WTA Tv
→ 6-4 5-4 15/0
Siegemund hit an offensive second serve return and charged the net. With Sramkova able to chase down the short ball, Siegemund went back to the baseline and ended up sending a forehand wide.
As mentioned before, Siegemund won just 6 of 15 points when attempting a drop shot/drop volley.
Drop shots didn’t work for Siegemund and her ability to attack the net was also impaired by Sramkova’s depth and weight of shot. Even though Siegemund did well once she got there, winning 8 of 12 net points (67%), Sramkova took the net away from her at times. By the end, the Slovak registered 4 more forward moves.
Net points
Siegemund: 8-for-12 (67%)
Sramkova: 11-for-16 (69%)
If both players won nearly 70% of points at the net, Sramkova dominated the baseline. She finished with a 42-26 score in baseline duels and a 57% (44/77) win-rate in baseline points against 37% (30/81) from Siegemund.
This baseline superiority resulted in a 10-point advantage for Sramkova in medium rallies.
Points won by rally length
0-4 shots: Siegemund +1 (39-38)
5-8 shots: Sramkova +10 (26-16)
9+ shots: Sramkova +2 (5-3)
→ 6-4 5-4 30/0
A bullet down-the-line forehand.
This forehand was probably the fastest groundstroke of the match.
Overall, Sramkova’s forehand ruled the final. The Slovak finished with 18 winners and 24 errors from that wing, for a -6 differential. Siegemund had 3 times fewer forehand winners (6 to 18) while making a similar number of errors (21 to 24).
Forehand Performance
Siegemund: 6 winners / 21 errors = -15
Sramkova: 18 winners / 24 errors = -6
Notice below that Siegemund made 8 forehand unforced errors on shots hit closer to the Deuce court sideline (marked by yellow circle on the left) and how her offensive production from the baseline was very low (orange box on the left).
By contrast, Sramkova fired 9 forehand winners and 3 forcing shots from the baseline (orange box on the right) and made just 2 forehand unforced errors when hitting near the Deuce court sideline (yellow circle on the right).
→ 6-4 5-4 40/0
Sramkova moved Siegemund around, creating the opening for a line backhand winner.
Sramkova secured the title with a backhand winner but her backhand performance was superior mostly because she had 5 fewer errors (15 to 20).
Backhand Performance
Siegemund: 5 winners / 20 errors = -15
Sramkova: 6 winners / 15 errors = -9
After 7 arduous years, Rebecca Sramkova is a Tour champion!
Coincidentally, it has been 7 years since Laura Siegemund’s last Tour title, in Stuttgart.
This week, the 36-year-old German won the 4th longest match in Open era when she toppled 5th-seed Wang Xiyu 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(1) in 4h09min.
But against Sramkova, very little worked for Siegemund. One of few exceptions were wide 1st serves on the Deuce side (marked by yellow box).
Siegemund extracted 7 return errors and hit 1 ace while winning 12 of 13 points that started with a Deuce court wide 1st serve.
Laura Siegemund (WTA #97) vs Rebecca Sramkova (WTA #136)
2024 Hua Hin Final - Match Data
Set by Set Stats
Points won by Rally Length
Rally Length
Serve and Return
Winners and Errors (returns and rally shots)
Strokes Breakdown
Direction of winning shots and unforced errors (only groundstrokes)
2nd Serves
Return & rallying performance
Points won breakdown
This final section gives a last, broader look at the match by presenting how each player won points. Points are listed according to their frequency (highest to lowest) and are named in relation to the last touch on the ball. For simplicity, groundstrokes hit from the 5th shot onwards are grouped together.
Breakdown by side (FHs or BHs)
Breakdown by error type (UFEs or FEs)
To find out more about the stats published here, please visit the following post.
Even though they follow the same criteria used on all major tennis events, they are not official WTA or ITF stats. They are collected through our own rigorous video analysis.
Thanks for reading!
— Tennis Inside Numbers