Lamens wins the All-Qualifier final in Osaka and thus secures his first WTA title

No. 125 Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands captured her first career Hologic WTA Tour title on Sunday after defeating No. 150 Kimberly Birrell 6-0, 6-4 in the final of the Kinoshita Group Japan Open.

Osaka: Scores | Draws | Order of play

The 25-year-old Lamens is the second qualifier to win a Tour title this season, after Britain’s Sonay Kartal (Monastir) last month. She is the first qualifier Osaka won since Zarina Diyas in 2017. Sunday’s final was the fifth tour-level All-Qualifier final since 1990 and the first since Tatjana Maria defeated Laura Pigossi to win the 2022 Copa Colsanitas in Bogota, Colombia.

Lamens lost just one set in her seven matches in Osaka and will make her top-100 debut in the PIF-WTA rankings on Monday. Entering the tournament, she recorded only two top-100 wins in her tour-level career, both on clay. In Osaka she won her first three top 100 victories on hardcourt, defeating Viktoriya Tomova, Lucia Bronzetti and Parry.

Both Lamens and Birrell had to do double duty on Sunday after both semi-finals on Saturday were washed out by rain. Lamens started the day with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 7 seed Diane Parry. Birrell drew level with a straight-sets win over Aoi Ito to also reach her first WTA final.

Lamens faced each other for the first time and managed the first set in just 21 minutes. Birrell got on the board in the seventh game of the match and took a 3-2 lead in the second set, but Lamens proved too steady from the baseline. Lamens broke at serve to get back on serve and then Birrell broke for the sixth time in the match to seal the 73-minute win.

In doubles, number 3 seeds Ena Shibahara and Laura Siegemund defeated number 4 seeds Cristina Bucsa and Monica Niculescu 3:6, 6:2 [10-2] to get the title.