Watson beats Chang to win first WTA title

OSAKA, Japan: Heather Watson edged past Taiwan's Chang Kai-chen in a marathon final at the Japan Women's Open tennis tournament on Sunday, to become the first Briton in 24 years to win a WTA title.The 20-year-old, in her first WTA final, squandered one match point while leading one set and hit a double fault on 5-4. She had to save four match points in the final set before winning 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4) after a match lasting three hours and 11 minutes.Watson, however, failed to achieve a twin triumph when she and Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm lost the doubles final to top seed Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears of the United States 1-6, 4-6.Watson is the first Briton to win a WTA title since Sara Gomer at Aptos back in 1988.For 22 years no Briton had even reached a WTA final until Laura Robson broke the drought with her run to the final in Guangzhou, China last month.Watson, who received the winner's cheque of 37,000 dollars, has also won three ITF titles, at Wrexham and Toronto in 2010 and at Frinton in 2009.