Ashlyn Krueger has accounted for top seed Zhu Lin in straight sets to win the Japan Open in Osaka. AP
Krueger hadn’t dropped a set at the tournament leading into Sunday’s final and the 19-year-old Texan showed few nerves as she broke No.35-ranked Zhu's first service game of the match and then maintained composure through a tight second set and tiebreaker to claim her breakthrough title in one hour and 36 minutes.
Before this week, the 123rd-ranked Krueger's best tour result was the quarterfinals on the grass of ’s-Hertogenbosch. She came into the week without a main-draw win on hard courts this year.
Her victory in Osaka will move the American inside the top 100 for the first time.
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