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Jang Su-jeong wins first WTA 125 title at Nordea Open

Published: 10 Jul. 2022, 14:47

Jang Su-jeong returns the ball to Spain's Rebeka Masarova during the women's singles final at the WTA 125 Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden on Friday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Jang Su-jeong celebrates after winning her women's singles final tennis match of the WTA 125 Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden on Friday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Jang Su-jeong won her first ever WTA 125 title at the Nordea Open on Saturday, defeating Rebeka Masarova of Spain.

The Nordea Open final was played between two unseeded players Jang and Masarova. After two hours and 16 minutes, Jang was the one to emerge victorious with her first WTA 125 trophy after a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Masarova.

The first set of the final found Jang struggling to overcome Masarova’s serve. Masarova had five aces throughout the match while Jang had none.

After conceding the first set 6-3, Jang’s comeback started in the eighth game of the second set, when she broke Masarova's serve for the first time after three deuces.

Spain's Rebeka Masarova returns the ball to Jang Su-jeong during the women's singles final tennis match of the WTA 125 Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden on Friday. [AFP/YONHAP]

The Nordea Open was the third time that Jang and Masarova have faced each other in the last 16 months. After defeating each other once before, Jang now has the upper-hand in their head-to-head with Saturday's victory.

In March of 2021, Masarova beat Jang 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 in the first round of the W15 tournament in Antalya.

Then this January, Jang beat the Spaniard in the final round of the Australian Open qualifying tournament in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, advancing to the first round of the Grand Slam for the first time in her career.

At the time, Jang became the first Korean to play a Grand Slam women's singles event in two years.

The latest player to reach a Grand Slam event before Jang was Han Na-lae, who earned her spot in the Australian Open in 2020 as a wildcard.

Jang was the eighth Korean female player to contest a Grand Slam main draw since 1968 during the Open Era and only the fourth Korean female player this century following Cho Yoon-jeong, Jeon Mi-ra and Han.

There are only a total of nine Korean female tennis players to have reached the Grand Slam stage. The first-ever was Korean tennis legend Lee Duk-hee, who became the first Korean to play a women's singles Grand Slam event in 1973, when she reached the second round of the Australian Open. In 1980, she became the first Korean across all genders to have played at all four Grand Slam tournaments in a year. In 1981, Lee reached the women’s singles round of 16 at the U.S. Open, the best a Korean woman has ever done.

The WTA trophy highlights the many high points Jang has been reaching in her career this season and puts her at No. 155 in the world rankings.

Jang's WTA title comes just a couple of weeks after she reached the third qualifying round at Wimbledon this June for the first time in her career. Jang has only reached the third round of a Grand Slam qualifier four times — at the French Open and U.S. Open in 2017 and this year's Australian Open and Wimbledon. Despite failing to win her third qualifier and missing out on Wimbledon, Jang is currently the most successful Korean player in women's tennis.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [[email protected]]