Saturday 13 October 2012

Watson in First WTA Final

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Heather Watson and Kai-Chen Chang of Chinese Taipei both reached their first ever singles final on the WTA Tour at the HP Open in Osaka.

The 20-year-old Watson, from Guernsey,  beat Japan's Misaki Doi in two tight sets - and Chang then stunned top seed Sam Stosur in a third-set tie-break.

Watson took her first set against Doi, winning 7/2 in a tie-break after each player broke serve once.

But like Watson's quarter-final win over Pauline Parmentier yesterday, today's second set was littered with service breaks - an area Watson will surely have to improve on in the final.

Watson finally came through with a late fourth break against three for her opponent, wrapping up a 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 win in just over two hours to end the hopes of the home fans.

Stosur was the only woman among the final four who had previously reached a tour semi-final but quickly found herself a set down against world No 134 Chang.

The world No 9 from Australia levelled the match but Chang, who knocked out Watson's fellow Briton Laura Robson yesterday, was not to be denied. After a break apiece in the final set she forced four match-points in the breaker, taking the second to win 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3).


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