Stosur claims title at last

Australia’s Samantha Stosur claimed her first WTA Tour title with a 7-5 6-1 win over Francesca Schiavone in the final of the Japan Women’s Open today.

The third seed had lost all five of her previous tour singles finals but never looked back in Osaka after claiming a close first set.

The first set stayed with serve until, serving to stay in the set at 6-5 down, Italian fourth seed Schiavone finally buckled.

Stosur broke again in game four of the second set and from there Schiavone, who had lost nine of her previous 10 singles finals, fell apart.

Victory completed a fine week for Stosur, whose only dropped set in her successful run was against top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals.