World No.62 and fifth seed Kurumi Nara of Japan claimed her maiden WTA title on the clay of the inaugural Rio Open by defeating top seed Klara Zakopalova 6-1 4-6 6-1, the Czech who has now lost six straight WTA finals since winning Portoroz and ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2005.
The 22-year-old Nara has been on the rise, having reached the third round of the last US Open and Australian Open and her first WTA semifinal at Osaka 2013. By virtue of her triumph in Rio, she’ll crack the Top 50, while she’s already the top ranked woman from her country. (photo: Mark Woods)
Great to hear of this! I remember her playing Marion in Osaka as a 16 or 17 year old. She was considered Japan’s brightest hope among the juniors and possibly someone who could fill the gap left by Ai Sugiyama. For a while there Misaki Doi seemed to be taking the initiative, but one things for sure, all the players from Japan and China have great durability, so there is plenty of time for Kurumi Nara, Ayumi Morita, etc, to emulate a wee bit of what Ai and Kimiko have done and help tennis in Japan to flourish.