WTA125 Oeiras: Dalma Galfi vs Katie Volynets final analysis
Powerful serves and soft drop shots were key as Galfi secured biggest career title
Two weeks after losing the final at La Bisbal D’Empordá from a set up, Dalma Galfi (WTA #150) came back from a set down to defeat second seed Katie Volynets (WTA #80) in the Oeiras title decider and finally claim a WTA 125 title, her highest level singles trophy to date, at the third try. She was also a losing finalist at WTA 125 Contrexeville 3 years ago, despite holding 3 championship points.
A long-awaited delight for the 26-year old Hungarian arrived at last through:
Superior serving
Excellent efficency in the forecourt
Frequent use of drop shots
1. Superior serving
Galfi packs a significantly more powerful serve than Volynets and she took full advantage of it during the Oeiras final.
With 7 aces plus 9 other deliveries that forced return errors, Galfi collected 16 free points off quality serves against just 2 from Volynets.
Despite that 14-point deficit, Volynets didn’t serve poorly. Unable to generate the same pace, the American opted for consistency with incredible results: she landed 40 of 41 1st serves in the first set and 27 of 29 in the decider! Overall, Volynets made 92% of 1st serves (86 of 93).
Galfi wasn’t that far behind however, at 78% of 1st serves landed while taking a lot more risks. Her reward was conceding a single break, in the third game of the match. Otherwise, she held serve throughout the second and third sets.
Because Galfi also broke Volynets’ opening serve game in each of the last 2 sets, this allowed her to always lead the score during those do-or-die frames.
Serving Performances
Winning serves: Galfi 16 / Volynets 2
1st serves in: Galfi 78% / Volynets 92%
1st serves won: Galfi 71% / Volynets 55%
Serve games won: Galfi 92% / Volynets 67%
2. Excellent efficency in the forecourt
Once rallies developed, both players tried to work their way up to the net.
📺 source: WTA Unlocked
Galfi accumulated 4 approach and 10 volley/overhead winners. Volynets had 3 approach and 8 volley/overhead winners.
By the end of the match, Galfi presented an excellent 77% (17-for-22) win-rate at the net whereas Volynets was a lot closer to 50%, at 55% (17-for-31).
3. Frequent use of drop shots
Volynets’ inferior forecourt win-rate shown above had a lot to do with Galfi’s frequent drop shots that forced the American to move up court against her will on several occasions.
Displaying great touch, Galfi made it impossible for Volynets to contact the ball properly…
… or created opportunities to get by her with passing winners.
Overall, Galfi tried to change the rhythm of the match, surprise Volynets or take advantage of superior court position by playing a drop shot in 25 different points.
The eventual champion ended up winning 15 of those rallies, including 6 off drop shot winners.
Some of those attempts turned into exquisite shots, so the best way to conclude this analysis is to show them.
Dalma Galfi (WTA #150) vs Katie Volynets (WTA #80, seed 2)
2025 Oeiras final - Match Data
Set by Set Stats
Points won by rally length
Rally length
Winners and Errors (returns & rally shots)
Direction of winning shots and unforced errors (only groundstrokes)
Serve and Return
1st Serves
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.
While we follow the same criteria used on all major tennis events, our stats are collected through our own video analysis and are not official WTA or ITF stats.
Thanks for reading!
— Tennis Inside Numbers