Suzan Lamens Claims Her Maiden WTA Title at 2024 Japan Open
The Dutch player prevailed against Kimberly Birrell of Australia in the final.
In a battle between first-time finalists, Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands, 25, defeated Kimberly Birrell of Australia, 26, to win the Women’s Singles title at the 2024 Japan Open in Osaka, Japan (a WTA 250 event). The score in the final was 6-0 and 6-4 in favor of Lamens.
This was the first match Birrell and Lamens have ever played against each other on the WTA Tour. Today’s victory was the first title Lamens has won on the 2024 WTA Tour and the first title of her career in single’s competition. She becomes the eleventh player to win her first WTA title during the 2024 season and the first from the Netherlands to do so. Her maiden title came from a hard court event at the 250-level. And finally, she becomes the first player representing the Netherlands to win the title in Osaka since the event joined the tour in 2009.
Heading into this tournament, Lamens was ranked as the Number 125 tennis player on the 2024 WTA Tour, while Birrell carried the Number 150 designation. By winning in Osaka, Lamens has received 250 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Birrell has picked up 163 points. As a result, Lamens will achieve a new career best ranking.
Ashlyn Krueger of the United States (No. 65) was the tournament’s reigning champion. This year though, she lost against fifth seed Elina Avanesyan of Armenia (No. 48) in the first round. Birrell and Lamens entered the main draw after first prevailing in the qualifying competition.
Lamens arrived in the final after winning against Ena Koike of Japan (No. 534), Eva Lys of Germany (No. 118), sixth seed Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria (No. 49), Lucia Bronzetti of Italy (No. 78), qualifier Ana Bogdan of Romania (No. 111), and seventh seed Diane Parry of France (No. 52).
In the other half of the main draw, Birrell defeated Sayaka Ishii of Japan (No. 285), Jessika Ponchet of France (No. 109), Zheng Saisai of China (No. 1,007), third seed Elise Mertens of Belgium (No. 27), wildcard Sara Saito of Japan (No. 179), and qualifier Aoi Ito of Japan (No. 188).
The revised rankings for the 2024 WTA Tour will be officially released on Monday, October 21. The tour will then play two tournaments from October 21-27: the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan (a WTA 500 event) and the Guangzhou Open in Guangzhou, China (a WTA 250 event). Both competitions will be played on hard courts.
Veronika Kudermetova of Russia (No. 67) is the reigning champion at the Pan Pacific Open. She is looking to defend the title as an unseeded player - facing off against Tomova in the first round. Meanwhile, Wang Xiyu of China (No. 98) is the reigning champion at the Guangzhou Open. She is also attempting a title defense as an unseeded player this year.