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She had 22 titles to her credit, and is a former world no.1, but all that was in the doubles world for 25-year old Australian Samantha Stosur. You name the player, and Sam has beaten her. She even made the semi-finals of a Grand Slam in singles for the first time in her career this year (at the French). However with a 0-5 record in singles finals, the one dream that has always eluded her was the standing on the last Sunday of a tournament all alone in the center with the winners crown held high above her head.

That changed on Sunday at the HP Japan Women's Open as she played near flawless tennis to beat 4th seed Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-1 in the final. Schiavone, a bit of a runner-up expert herself, came into the ma tch having won just one of ten finals she has contested.

The opening set went with serve right through till the 12th game, when Schiavone buckled under pressure serving behind and as a result dropped the set 7-5. The set stats indicated the Australian's supremacy, serving at an imaculate 74%, she dropped just just 7 points on serve and didn't face even a single break point.

Though she failed to maintain that level of intensity on her serve, Stosur was very dominant off the ground winning 13 of 22 points on Schiavone's serve and breaking twice to ease through the set 6-1.

One hopes that this is just the begining for the talented Australian, and that she will soon be knocking on the door to a top ten ranking early next season. With the perfect all-court  game, equipped with a big serve, good hands at the net and strong off both flanks, Stosur without a doubt has the talent to regularly feature in the second week of Grand Slams. Having finally got a monkey off her back, Sam should be a lot more confident heading into what should be an exciting 2010 for the Australian.

Top seeds Lisa Raymond and Chia-Jung Chuang a new pairing on the doubles circuit won their first title together beating surprise finalists Chanelle Scheepers and Abigail Spears 6-2, 6-4 in a little over an hour.

Sunday Scores:

Singles - Final
(3) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (4) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 75 61

Doubles - Final
(1) Chuang/Raymond (TPE/USA) d. Scheepers/Spears (RSA/USA) 62 64

File Photograph Copyright: Tidalist