JOIN USThe 20-year-old Korean, ranked 803rd in the world, simply outgunned her left-handed Chinese rival 6-1, 6-0 in just an hour to win her first tour title and take home the winner’s prize of USD 1568.
Chun-Yan, who knocked out top seed Anastasia Malhotra of Japan in the semifinals on Friday, did not have any answer to the hard-hitting Korean’s forehand and had to be satisfied with the runner-up prize money of USD 985.
Kang roared to a 4-0 lead in the first set against her 771st-ranked rival with breaks of serve in the second and fourth games before Chun-Yan showed some signs of a fightback by breaking her rival’s serve in the fifth game when Kang fired her forehand into the tramlines after a long rally.
However, it was just a minor hiccup for the Korean, who broke immediately back for a 5-1 lead and then rallied from 0-30 down to 40-30 for her first set point. Kang won the next point and clinched the first set in 35 minutes Chun-Yan hit her double-handed backhand too long.
Kang jumped to a 4-0 lead, with breaks in the first and third games, in the second set too against an error-prone Chun-Yan who engaged her rival in long rallies at times but still came out second best.
Kang later broke Chun-Yan in the fifth game when the latter netted a high forehand volley for a 5-0 advantage and then held her serve at love, with the help of three forehand winners, to take the set and the match.