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Heather Watson reaches Japan Open final
Britain's Heather Watson is through to her first WTA Tour singles final after beating home favourite Misaki Doi in two tight sets at the Japan Open.
The 20-year-old prevailed 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 in Osaka and will face Kai-Chen Chang of Chinese Taipei in Sunday's final.
Tale of the tape
| Watson | Chang | |
|---|---|---|
|
20 |
Age |
21 |
|
71 |
Ranking |
134 |
|
5'7" |
Height |
5'6" |
|
138 lbs |
Weight |
117 lbs |
|
30/25 |
2012 record (won/lost) |
17/23 |
|
121/81 |
Career record (won/lost) |
142/125 |
|
0 |
Titles |
0 |
|
£170,332 |
2012 prize money |
£89,552 |
|
£307,944 |
Career prize money |
£340,251 |
Watson, who also reached the final of the women's doubles, broke Doi four times to her three in the second set.
The world number 71 is bidding to become the first Briton to win a WTA singles title since 1988.
Sara Gomer was the last player to clinch victory when she won the Northern California Open, four years before British number two Watson was born.
Guernsey player Watson, whose previous best tournament finish was three quarter-final appearances last year, has never faced Chang in a WTA singles match.
World number 134 Chang beat Australian top seed Sam Stosur 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-3) in her semi-final.
Watson's final appearance comes just three weeks after Laura Robson became the first British woman to reach a WTA singles final since Jo Durie in 1990.
Robson, 18, lost in three sets to Su-Wei Hsieh at the Guangzhou Open, with Watson now aiming to go one better than the British number one.
And Watson could secure two titles after she made it through to the women's doubles final with 42-year-old Japanese partner Kimiko Date-Krumm.
The fourth seeds beat sixth seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Zheng Jie 6-3 4-6 10-8, and will face American top seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in the final on Sunday.
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Comment number 73.
MikeW14th October 2012 - 7:49
As for bias against Watson in favour of Robson -- come on. Robson had an amazing summer, getting to the Olympic mixed doubles final with Andy Murray (national TV for a week) and then her run in the US Open when she defeated two seeds and major championship winners, all at the age of 18 (two years younger than Watson). All that pushed her into the spotlight over Watson and the BBC just did its job.
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Comment number 72.
MikeW14th October 2012 - 7:33
Congratulations to Heather--well deserved tournament victory--but for those griping at the BBC for not covering this "historic" event live, well, let's not overdo it. The Osaka "HP Open" is a $25k event, i.e. the lowest tier event on the WTA tour, with only one top 10 player in the draw and 8 out of the top 60-odd, and there was no TV coverage at all.
Heather will get her due now she has won.
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Comment number 71.
franklyns14th October 2012 - 7:32
FANTASTIC RESULT! Well done Heather. It's just a shame that none of us could hear or see it, I had to watch the live score updates on the official web site. Still it can be quite exciting just watching the score tick over!
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Comment number 70.
charmingman14th October 2012 - 7:31
Congratulations Heather Watson on winning the Japanese Open and becoming the first British women to win a WTA title in 24 years. So proud.
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Comment number 69.
Michael-J14th October 2012 - 7:26
3 hours, 10 minutes.
Watson brings up 3 Championship Points....
1 saved.
She's done it!!
Link to this (Comment number 69)
Comments 5 of 73