Sam Stosur has cruised to another Japan Open title after defeating Zarina Diyas in Sunday’s final in Osaka.
The top-seeded world No.18 added to tournament wins in 2009 and 2013 with a 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 defeat of Kazakhstan’s Diyas for her sixth WTA title victory, overcoming a somewhat more mediocre field than the one faced in a semi-final run at the Beijing Open earlier this month.
Stosur’s 20-year-old opponent claimed a break in the opening game before racing out to a 5-3 advantage, but failed to serve out the set and dropped a further two set points to the 2011 US Open champ in the tiebreak.
“Zarina played a very good match today,” Stosur said. “She managed to put me under a lot of pressure and returned serve really well. She gets to a lot of balls and can put you under pressure.”
A couple of early breaks in the second set helped propel the 30-year-old to a comfortable win.
“Trying to serve out a set in a final, I don’t know if maybe she was a little nervous but I tried to play a little bit more aggressive or put a bit more on my shots to make her come up with something else,” Stosur added.
“It was my first final, so I am happy with how I played,” Diyas said. “She served very well and it was tough, especially on those set points. But this was a great experience for me.”
Stosur didn’t drop a set all tournament in what was a positive ending to an otherwise forgettable season for the Aussie veteran, including just a lone fourth round Grand Slam appearance and a first round shock loss at Wimbledon to world No.69 Yanina Wickmayer.
Stosur has collected US$872,040 in 2014 prize money despite the Japan Open being her only title of the year.
Photo: Feng Li/Getty Images
