On Sunday in Austria, in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz, last week's champ at Beijing (and the 2012 Australian Open champion), 23 year old top seeded #1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco), defeated the 2011 champ at Stuttgart, 23 year old 5th seeded #21 (career high: #15) Julia Goerges from Bad Oldesloe, Germany, 6-3, 6-4 (Victoria is shown holding the tranparentware after the match).     Vika's prize is $37,000; Julia's prize is $19,000.     Victoria led 5-0 in the 2nd set—then Julia won the next four games. Victoria said: "At 5-0 it felt like such a comfortable lead. I think I won seven games in a row at that point. But then Julia just went for her shots, and I kind of misjudged the situation. I felt like the match was already in my hands, but Julia is such an unpredictable player, and the momentum can turn around really quickly with her, and it did. I wasn't really expecting to have such a change.     "I'm glad I stayed in the moment. I did the right things at that moment to finish the match and I'm very happy I managed to win today." WTA story     Vika leads Julia 4-1 in career matches. Their most recent meeting was in March of this year, on a Plexipave hardcourt in the 4th round at Indian Wells, when Victoria defeated Julia 6-3, 6-1.     2012 Australian Open champion Victoria is now 14-11 in WTA singles finals; she also won this year at Beijing, Indian Wells, Doha and Sydney, and last year at Miami, Marbella and Luxembourg. Vika has a 67-8 singles match record in 2012.

    Julia is now 2-3 in WTA singles finals; she won in 2011 at Stuttgart and in 2010 at Bad Gastein, Austria. Julia also reached the Linz doubles final on Sunday, partnered with Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. Julia's singles match record this season is 34-27.

    Meanwhile at Osaka, Japan, in the final of the Japan Open, 20 year old #71 (career high: #67) Heather Watson from Guernsey, England, won her 1st WTA singles title by defeating 21 year old #124 (career high: #69) Kai-Chen Chang from Taipei, Taiwan, 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(4) (Hev is shown greeting the hardware after the match).

    Heather's prize is $37,000; Kai-Chen's prize is $19,000. The win made Heather the first British woman to win a WTA title since 1988, a 24 year gap. The match lasted 3 hours and 11 minutes. Both players scored 129 points. Heather failed to convert a match point in the 2nd set, and sucessfully defended 4 match points against her in the 3rd.

    Heather said: "I was in the changing room afterwards, changing my clothes, and I thought to myself, 'Did I really win?' So it's just starting to settle in.
    "I've worked so hard for this moment my whole career. That's why I practiced so hard, ran all those miles and lifted all those weights, for moments like this." WTA story

    Heather and Kai-Chen had never before met on the field of combat.

    Heather was playing in her first WTA singles final. She has won 3 ITF singles titles and 2 WTA doubles titles. Partnered with Kimiko Date-Krumm, Heather also reached the doubles final this week at Osaka. Hev has a 35-25 singles match record for the year.

    Kai-Chen was also playing in her first WTA singles final. She has won 2 ITF singles titles, 2 WTA doubles titles, and 8 ITF doubles titles. Kai-Chen's singles match record this season is 21-24.

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