From the brink of an early exit to her first WTA final in more than three years.
That’s been the rollercoaster journey of ASB Classic fifth seed Clara Tauson in Auckland, in a remarkable week.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, Tauson, who will face Japanese legend Naomi Osaka in Sunday’s final,was starting to contemplate her next tournament. The Dane was down a set and 0-3 against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who was in sublime form, crushing winners from every angle, particularly on her backhand.
It seemed a long way back. But Tauson found something to force a second-set tiebreak, before another early deficit. Kenin then had a match point – which the European saved – before going on to win 4-6 7-6 (7) 7-6 (3) across two hours and 40 minutes.
”She should have won that match – I can say that,” admitted Tauson. “She was the better player, but you always get a chance in tennis. I was just trying to make every single ball. She was playing a great match but I felt like I had a bit of a turnaround in the second set, even though she had a match point in the tiebreak.”
Surviving a match point and then progressing to the last day of a tournament is unusual, but that contest was a springboard.
”I mean, this happens in tennis,” said Tauson. “You’ve already been almost out of the tournament, and then suddenly you’re in the final because you’re playing on great momentum. I worked hard. I did everything I could to prepare for this tournament, and of course that Kenin match was a tough one, but it also gave me a lot of confidence.”
Clara Tauson of Denmark celebrates her match win against the US' Robin Montgomery in the 2025 ASB Classic semifinal. Photo / Alan Lee / Photosport
Tauson arrived at the ASB Classic with “no expectations”. She had never played in New Zealand before and was coming off a tough pre-season, with plenty of hard training in her native Denmark.
But she took heart from a solid 2024 season, highlighted by a run to the fourth round at Roland Garros, her best grand slam result. That foundation has paid dividends as the 22-year-old has been superb, both with her shot-making and her mental poise.
That was shown on Saturday – when she finished off her quarter-final against Madison Keys – that had been held over from Friday night due to rain, then got through a semifinal a few hours later, taking care of young American Robin Montgomery 6-4 6-3 in 86 minutes. It was an impressive effort, given Tauson had already faced a heavy schedule.
The Keys result, prevailing 6-4 7-6 (7), was the head-turner, as the world No 21 never looked entirely comfortable, with Tauson on song from the baseline and at the net. On Friday night, the American had faced a break point at 1-3 in the second set before fighting back, with the weather halting play at 8pm, Keys ahead 4-3.
There was an attempted restart at 9.15pm, before more rain sent the players to their hotels. When the match got under way again on Saturday at 11.45am, Keys was desperate to take the initiative. She was close, with a set point at 4-5 before two more in the tiebreak, but couldn’t take them ahead of Tauson converting her first match point.
The American, who had seemed the form player for much of the week, was understandably dismayed.
”I mean, all losses hurt,” said Keys. “Obviously having set points and not being able to convert is much more annoying than if you don’t have them, but you take every loss, and you have to figure out what you did wrong and what you did well and just try to move on.”
The 29-year-old struggled to find her groove for most of the quarter-final, unable to establish any dominance from the baseline.
“It just happens sometimes,” said Keys. “I felt like I wasn’t playing quite as well as I did earlier. When you’re playing someone who takes as many cuts as she does, it’s hard to find your footing and you don’t really have the ability to work yourself back into a match, which is part of the reason why she is as good as she is.”
“At the end of the day, it’s disappointing and I would much rather have won the match, but you get pretty good at losing when you play tennis because it happens every single week.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns.
