Lyudmila Samsonova beat Zheng Qinwen in the Japan Open final before Ekaterina Alexandrova clinched the Korean Open by besting Jeļena Ostapenko
Russian world number 30 Lyudmila Samsonova garnered her fourth career title on Sunday after defeating world number 36 Zheng Qinwen of China at the Japan Open.
In Seoul, Samsonova’s compatriot and world number 24 Ekaterina Alexandrova won her third career title and second in 2022 by seeing off Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets in the Korea Open.
Samsonova’s victory was achieved by triumphing 7-5, 7-5 over Zheng and extending her winning record to 18 victories in her last 19 matches.
Clinical offense was key to a win that will put her just outside the top 20 in a career-high ranking at the turn of the week, although the first set was tight and drawn 5-5 at one point.
After converting two forehands, Samsonova served out the first set after 57 minutes and finished it with 14 winners.
In a repeat of the first set,…
