US rising star Kenin wins third WTA title

GUANGZHOU/TOKYO: Moscow-born American Sofia Kenin won her third title of a breakthrough year with a hard-fought victory over Sam Stosur in the final of the Guangzhou Open on Saturday.

The 20-year-old prevailed 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 in southern China over the Australian former Grand Slam winner, now aged 35. Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, was two games from victory in the second set, before her younger opponent roared back with seven games in a row to turn the match in her favour.

Kenin, seeded third and into the top 20 in the world, is fast making a name for herself in women´s tennis. She defeated then-number one Naomi Osaka to reach the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters last month.

Kenin won her maiden WTA title at Hobart, Australia in January and also triumphed in Mallorca in June. Stosur was chasing her first singles title in more than two years.

Meanwhile, Japanese tennis sensation Naomi Osaka beat Elise Mertens of Belgium on Saturday to reach the final of the Pan Pacific Open, thrilling her Japanese fans in the city of her birth. Top seed Osaka dispatched No. 9 seed Mertens 6-4, 6-1 in Osaka, western Japan, to reach her first final since winning the Australian Open. The pair both held their serves for the first set until Osaka broke Mertens in the 10th game.

Osaka, 21, rounded into form in the second, and after the pair traded early breaks, won the last four games of the match to win in just over an hour.