The final day of the new extended grass warm-up season saw a pair of unseeded underdogs - two-time runners-up, at opposite ends of their careers - gunning for their maiden titles against higher-ranked opposition. And though both took a scenic route, Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, 28 and Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, 18, became champions for the very first time within minutes of each other.
Junior champion at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2013, the prodigious Bencic's transition to the main tour has been seamless. Her cerebral game, canny point construction and laser-accurate backhand have been in evidence all week - but on Saturday she demonstrated a champion's mentality in a final for the first time, becoming the youngest Premier-level winner since Caroline Wozniacki in New Haven in 2008.
Bencic's three finals in her first 16 months on the WTA Tour are an impressive enough feat in themselves - but she must have been smarting from her inability to take a set from either Alison Riske in last October's Tianjin final, or Camila Giorgi two weeks ago in 's-Hertogenbosch.
This is one of the biggest days of my life, it's a dream coming true
But against the former world No.2 and 2013 Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska, she rose to the occasion - time and again outsmarting a woman often considered the craftiest on Tour for a high-quality 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win in which the two players combined to hit 89 winners (41 for Bencic and 48 for Radwanska).
Bencic's speed also nullified Radwanska's touch: it's not often that the Pole seems stranded at net, but on several occasions Bencic was able to race to her volleys and dropshots to neatly place a passing shot winner. But Bencic's ability to step into the court to control the points was also impressive, and key to a runaway third set that she finished by rifling a forehand winner past Radwanska.
"This is one of the biggest days of my life, it's a dream coming true that I won my first WTA title!" an overjoyed Bencic exclaimed afterwards. She also paid tribute to former world No.1 Martina Hingis - who was watching in the stands - and her mother, who has coached the teenager since the age of 10. "Definitely [Martina] helped me a lot, and not just this week - her and her mum, the teach me everything."
Bencic's victory also means that the 2015 grass season has seen debut titles for the two youngest players in the Top 100 following Ana Konjuh taking the trophy in Nottingham two weeks ago. The two erstwhile junior rivals look as though they could be leading their generation for years to come.
Istomin holds his nerve in Nottingham
In contrast to Bencic's scant 16 months of professional experience, Denis Istomin's career stretches back 11 years. In that time, the world No.92 had made the second week of a Slam twice - fourth round showings at Wimbledon in 2012 and the US Open the following year - and reached two finals, losing in New Haven to Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2010 and in San Jose to Milos Raonic in 2012. And on Saturday, he was facing an uphill battle against a big-serving opponent he had beaten just twice in six tries.
Yet one of those wins over the No.12 seed Sam Querrey had come on grass - a 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 victory in the second round of Eastbourne in 2009. Maybe it inspired the Uzbek - or maybe he was simply determined to taste title glory this time. As the first set progressed inevitably towards a tie-break, Istomin's level rose gradually, with his backhand in particular doing real damage in all directions. Querrey's game began to wobble, meanwhile, before falling precipitously off a cliff in the tie-break: having served just one double fault until then, he promptly served two in the tie-break, winning just one point.
The pattern continued in the second set, with Querrey's forehand joining his serve in the bin as the errors flowed. Not that it was to be straightforward for Istomin: serving for the championship, the nerves hit - in a big way. Two attempts to serve for the match came and went, as did a match point on Querrey's serve. The 6'6" American seized this invitation back into the match with gusto, and his game resurrected itself as suddenly as it had collapsed. Slamming forehands and demonstrating excellent nous at net, Querrey's comeback took him to a 5-1 lead in the tie-break.
Istomin hadn't come so close to be denied, though - and he dug deep to claw back the deficit, and fell to his knees in jubilation after taking his third championship point with a backhand winner for a 7-6(1), 7-6(6) victory. "I feel so happy now!" a near-speechless Istomin said afterwards. "After 5-2 up and then 5-5 I was thinking, Sam, please give me this chance. I hope it's a first title and not last!"
Underdogs triumph in doubles
The first-time trophies extended to the doubles events as well: though each of the champions had previously won a Tour-level title, neither pair had triumphed together. In Nottingham Brazil's André Sá collected his ninth title, and first on grass, with Australia's Chris Guccione, for whom it was his fourth title; the pair beat the Uruguayan-Spanish duo Pablo Cuevas and David Marrero in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.
Meanwhile, youth and experience combined for success in Eastbourne. 34-year-old Slovene Katarina Srebotnik was the owner of 35 doubles titles - including Wimbledon in 2011 alongside Kveta Peschke - stretching back 17 years; 21-year-old Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia had just one to her name. Both totals went up by one today as the pair beat Taiwanese-Chinese duo Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie 7-6(5), 6-2.
