At the Japan Open in Osaka, American youngster Ashlyn Krueger defeated top seed Zhu Lin 6-3, 7-6 (6) to win her maiden WTA Tour title.
Krueger, 19, was ranked 123rd in the world and had never gotten past a WTA quarterfinal on a hard court.
No. 35 Zhu of China became the second top 50 player to lose to the Dallas native in her young career. Their first match and Krueger’s 11th main-draw appearance.
Krueger won 7-3 in aces and never saved a break point in 96 minutes. Zhu saved break points 1-for-2, and she broke him on her opening service game.
“I think I was very aggressive today, playing a lot of really aggressive tennis and using my serve,” Krueger remarked, who won 28 games to 13. “I suppose I was psychologically strong throughout. Lots of aggressive shots and self-confidence.”
All four seeded players won their first-round matches in Mexico.
Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine, the 12th seed, beat Grace Min of the US 6-2, 6-0 in 61 minutes with only two losses.
Elise Mertens, 13th seed, defeated Yanina Wickmayer, 7-6 (4), 6-2, after a first-set tiebreaker. Mertens won 25 of 35 first-service points with eight aces.
No. 15 The second set was harder for Italian Jasmine Paolini, who defeated U.S. Louisa Chirico 6-0, 7-6 (3).
Ena Shibahara of Japan lost to 16th-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-2.
American Sloane Stephens defeated American Ann Li 7-5, 6-4, and Canadian Leylah Fernandez defeated American Asia Muhammad 6-1, 6-3.
American Taylor Townsend, Hailey Baptiste, and Alycia Parks; Canadian Eugenie Bouchard; Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska; Italian Martina Trevisan; Spanish Cristina Bucsa; and Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich also won.
