Australia’s Samantha Stosur claimed the title at the Japan Women’s Open yesterday after defeating Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-1.  This is Stosur’s first WTA singles title so I’m sure she’s very excited. Stosur advanced to the finals after eliminating top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki on Saturday.
The pairing with Schiavone was pretty good since Stosur was the third seed and the Italian was fourth but, really, there wasn’t much competition here.  Stosur dominated for most of the match and was able to seal the deal in just one hour and eight minutes.

Francesca Schiavone has advanced to the semifinals at the 2009 Prague Open.  The top-seeded Italian who turned 29 last month easily beat Ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1, 6-1 today.
Schiavone made it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon this year before being eliminated by Russia’s Elena Dementieva.  The 30th-ranked athlete will battle Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro or Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in the semis tomorrow.
Other results from the day include the 7-5, 5-7, 7-5  victory of second-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria over the Czech Republic’s seventh-seeded Lucie Hradecka.  Bammer will move on to play third-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.
image: TSN