Siniakova beats Krueger in straight sets to win Japan Open

Osaka, October 25 (IANS) Katerina Siniakova captured the Japan Open title with a straight-set win over Ashlyn Krueger here on Sunday.Siniakova needed just 64 minutes to seal a dominant 6-1, 6-0 victory and claim the sixth WTA singles title of her career. It was her first singles title since winning in Nanchang in 2023.After taking a 2-1 lead in the opening set, Siniakova won 10 consecutive games to wrap up the win. The Czech, currently the world's top-ranked doubles player, finished with a winner-to-unforced-error ratio of 0.84, hitting 16 winners and committing 19 unforced errors. Krueger, playing in her third tour-level final, recorded a ratio of 0.29, with 10 winners and 34 unforced errors, according to WTA stats.This was Siniakova’s first tour-level singles final in three years. She was a runner-up in 2016 at the Japan Women's Open, the predecessor of the current tournament, making this her first final appearance here in ten years."I don't remember when I played so well. Everything was going my way, so I really enjoyed it. I had a lot of confidence. I'm just really proud of how I played. Tomorrow I'm travelling to Guangzhou and then the finals in the Indian Bowl. So we have a few more weeks left. But I'm looking forward to it," Siniakova was quoted by WTA.En route to the title win, Siniakova defeated No. 2 seed Peyton Stearns, Magda Linette, Mary Stoiana and No. 8 seed Katie Boulteren, dropping just one set.The win improved Siniakova's record in WTA finals to 6-5, while Krueger, who won the Japan Open in 2023, fell to 1-2 in tour-level finals.Krueger defeated No. 6 seed Janice Tjen, Lanlana Tararudee, No. 4 seed Talia Gibson and No. 1 seed Ann Li in reaching her first tour-level final of the season.