The young local girl can be surprising at 17!

A week ago, Hannah Klugman was making British tennis history by clinching her first win on the WTA Tour in Nottingham. At 17, on the grass she’s been treading since childhood, the London wild card returns to Devonshire Park with a simple question: can she do even better?

On the other side of the net, Tereza Valentová is, on paper, a completely different proposition. The 19-year-old Czech sits at No. 63 in the world, has a DR of 1.12 over the last 52 weeks and has shown impressive consistency since her breakthrough in 2025. Osaka as a qualifier in a final, two WTA 125 titles, a final in Saint-Malo in 2026. The profile of a player on the rise who knows how to win big matches.

Except on grass, the matchup levels out. Valentová has played just one match on the surface this season, and she lost it. Klugman is already at six, with grass in her legs, the landmarks of Devonshire Park and a crowd that will push her on every point. With a grass DR of 0.83, Klugman is still fragile on the surface, that’s undeniable. But taking a set off a player who shows up with no grass rhythm at all, at home, carried by a rare emotional momentum for a 17-year-old, is well within her reach.