Samantha Stosur claimed her second HP Open title, becoming the first player to have done so at the Osaka tournament, for the first time in her career won an event for the second time and for the first time in her career managed to win two titles in a single season. All those feats the Australian achieved after beating first-time WTA finalist Eugenie Bouchard in the 2013 HP Open title match, after her victories over Johanna Larsson in the first round, Belinda Bencic in the second, Misaki Doi in the quarterfinals and sixth seed Madison Keys in the semis.
The Saturday’s final encounter of the tournament didn’t start favorable for the third-seeded Stosur, as Bouchard took the opening set without much trouble and as the second set was steadily approaching a tiebreak, the fifth-seeded Bouchard even had a point on her own serve for 6-5, but Stosur then had a successful series, won the second set and eased through the third for a 3-6 7-5 6-2 win. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
I’m so happy for her! She played really well.