Date-Krumm becomes second-oldest WTA singles champion

SEOUL - Japanese professional tennis player Kimiko Date-Krumm Sunday became the second-oldest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) champion when she beat Spain’s second seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-3 to win the Hansol-Korea Open - a day before her 39th birthday.

Only Billie Jean King was older (by seven months and 24 days) when she won in Birmingham in 1983.

The victory sees Date-Krumm, who is married to German racing driver Michael Krumm, take her eighth career singles title, with the last before Sunday coming in 1996 in San Diego, when she beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to take the title.

In November 1995 Date-Krumm was ranked fourth in the world. She previously reached the semi-finals of the Australian and French Open, as well as Wimbledon.