HANSOL KOREA OPEN
Seoul-KOR
September 21-27, 2009
$220,000/International
Hard/Outdoors

Results - Sunday, September 27, 2009
Singles - Final
Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) d. (2) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 63 63

Doubles - Final
Chan/Spears (TPE/USA) d. Gullickson/Kriz (USA/AUS) 63 64

Final Facts
- At 38 years, 11 months and 30 days, Date Krumm is the second-oldest player in the Open Era to win a singles title on the Tour, after Billie Jean King (who won Birmingham in 1983 at 39 years, 7 months and 23 days).
- Since her return to professional tennis in 2008, Date Krumm had enjoyed success on the ITF Women's Circuit but before this week hadn't broken through again at the Tour level, going 0-8 in main draws; she finally got over the hump with a 63 64 first round win against Korean wildcard Lee Ye-Ra.
- Ranked No.155 heading into Seoul, Date Krumm beat three Top 30 players on her way to the Hansol Korea Open title: World No.30 and fifth seed Alisa Kleybanova in the second round (saving a match point in the second set); world No.21 and top seed Daniela Hantuchova in the quarters; as well as world No.23 Medina Garrigues. Her semifinal victim was 54th-ranked Maria Kirilenko, the defending champion.
- Date Krumm now has eight singles titles on the Tour, her first seven all coming between 1992 and 1996. Five came in Tokyo, one at the Toray Pan Pacific Open (1995) and four at the Japan Open (1992, 1993, 1994, 1996); her other two titles came in Sydney (1994) and San Diego (1996). She is now 8-6 lifetime in Tour finals.
- Medina Garrigues was playing her second final of the year, having won the title at Fès in the spring. The 27-year-old Spaniard is now 9-6 lifetime in Tour finals.
- Chan Yung-Jan and Abigail Spears win their first title together; Chan also won this event in 2005 with Chuang Chia-Jung. Chan now holds eight Tour doubles titles (the first seven all with Chuang) while Spears has four.

 

Final Quotes
Kimiko Date Krumm, 2009 Hansol Korea Open singles champion (translated from Japanese):
“My husband’s love and support was more important than anything. I was relaxed, mentally strong, and physically I was also doing well. With all the tennis, I was of course tired, but it wasn’t bad. I could move well enough to play my game. For the past year, I didn’t really know if I could really compete well on the WTA Tour, but it looks okay now. Here, I came back to win in matches. I could play my own game exactly as I wanted to…. I’ll have to be careful not to get any injuries, but I think I’ll be able to keep playing for a couple of years.”

Anabel Medina Garrigues, 2009 Hansol Korea Open singles runner-up:
“When I was on court, I didn’t think she has thirty-eight years old, almost thirty-nine. Physically, she’s very good. She had five matches in a row this week, three in three sets, and she was running today like the first day, so... I don’t care about the age if she’s in good form. She’s very fit. Although I didn’t win the tournament I’m still really happy. Honestly, I arrived here with not a lot of confidence. To be in the final is a very good result.”