Lexus Ilkley Open final wraps a week of world class tennis

Yunchaokete Bu [men's] and Ashlyn Krueger [women's} were crowned single winners of the 2026 Lexus Ilkley Open [Photo: LTA]

After a rain delayed week, rain stayed away for the finals day at the Lexus Ilkley Open at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club.

First on Centre Court was the women's singles final, American Ashlyn Krueger was crowned the new Lexus Ilkley Open champion following a convincing victory over Swiss, Celine Naef.

The 22-year-old overcame a competitive opening set before pulling away to seal a 7–5, 6–2 victory in one hour and 31 minutes.

The title marks Krueger’s second WTA 125 trophy on grass, adding to her success at the Veneto Open in 2023, where she defeated former HSBC Championships winner Tatjana Maria. It also builds on her recent momentum following a semi-final appearance at the Lexus Birmingham Open last week.

[Photo: Eileen Babb}

In the afternoon, Britain's Jacob Fearnley faced Lexus Birmingham Open champion, Yunchaokete Bu from China, for the men’s singles title.

In-form Bu was too strong for Jacob, sealing a 3-6, 6-7 victory, the 2nd set went to tiebreak with Bu winning.

Bu - who has now risen to world No.107 in the live rankings - becomes just the fourth player since 2000 to win titles in back-to-back weeks on grass, joining the likes of Andy Murray (Surbiton & Nottingham, 2023) and Dan Evans (Surbiton & Nottingham, 2019).

[Photo: ILTSC]

The finals on Sunday [14 June] ended a week of world class tennis and music entertainment with Beyond the Baseline in the fan zone. The whole event firmly places Ilkley on the tennis calendar and is the final event of the grass-court season before Wimbledon.