DUTCH qualifier Suzan Lamens is officially a WTA Tour title winner after defeating fellow qualifier Kimberly Birrell in a comprehensive 72-minute rout at the Japan Open overnight. Lamens had a tournament to remember, with the world number 125 ending up favourite in the final despite being a qualifier, destroying Birrell 6-0 6-4.

There was always going to be a slice of history made with both the Dutchwoman and the 150th ranked Aussie having never won a WTA Tour title before. Both had produced some impressive wins along the way with Birrell’s scalps including third seed Elise Mertens, Top 100 player Saisai Zheng, and local hopes Sara Saito and Aoi Ito.

Lamens had taken the scalps of sixth seed Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova and seventh seed Frenchwoman Diane Parry along the way, as well as fighting back from a set down against Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan in the quarter finals. There was no such trouble against Birrell, with Lamens bagelling the Aussie en route to a comfortable first title.

Both players had to pull double duty on the day with the respective semi-finals taking place earlier on Sunday after Saturday was washed out. Stepping out on the Osaka courts, Lamens defeated Parry 6-2 6-4, while Birrell ended Ito’s run 6-4 6-3, ensuring an all-qualifier decider. Unfortunately for neutrals, the first set took just 21 minutes, before Birrell was able to make it more of a contest with a 51-minute second set.

In the end though, Lamens served five aces and won 78 per cent of her first serve points compared to Birrell’s none and 39 per cent in a dominant display. While Birrell did manage to break Lamens twice from four chances, the Dutchwoman created seven break point opportunities and impressively took six of them on her way to victory.

“It couldn’t have been better for me and I love to play here,” Lamens said post-match.

Kasatkina mauls Mirra early, secures second title in 2024

Fifth seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina looked on track for an unbelievably quick finals night against talented teenager Mirra Andreeva, before being made to work for the WTA 500 title in Ningbo in a 6-0 4-6 6-4 victory.

Kasatkina needed an hour and 54 minutes to overcome the world number 19, winning 65 and 52 per cent of her first and second serve points compared to Andreeva’s 54 and 38 per cent. She also broke seven times to four, and was able to fight her way back from a break down in the deciding set. The Russian world number 11 said she was thrilled with her eighth career WTA Tour trophy.

“It’s been a very, very tough week, honestly,” Kasatkina said post-match. “All the matches were super tough. In the quarterfinal I came back from two match points down, and today from 3-0, almost 4-0 [down] in the third set.

“So this trophy means a lot because I worked on many challenges during this week, and I’m really proud of myself.”