Monica Seles, the 27-year-old multi-grand slam winner, notched her 50th
career title by winning the Japan Open.
Seles, who did not drop a set all week, needed just 64 minutes to dispatch second seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of
Thailand 6-3 6-2 for her second title in as many events and third of the year.
"I'm very happy to get through today's match," she said.
"I wasn't sure how my foot (injured during Friday's semi-final) would react
today, but it performed great. It was a fairly close match and I'm just happy
to win it."
The former world number one, who won the Brazil Open two weeks ago, was told of
reaching the 50-title mark by a television commentator.
"I really didn't know that I had a chance to win my 50th career title coming
into the match, but I'm really happy about it," she said.
"It's one of those milestones in your career. While you are playing, I don't
think you really think about it, because you just worry about the matches - not
necessarily the titles. I still play tennis because I love the game, not for
how many titles I can win.
"But I'm very proud of the accomplishment and hopefully I can add a few more
titles to that number before I retire."
Seles will have only one more chance this year - next week in Shanghai - to claim
another victory.
She will not play in the WTA Tour Championship in Munich later this month as
she has boycotted playing in Germany since the stabbing incident in 1993.
"I only have one more tournament this year and then I will be done until
Australia," she said.
"I think it's been a great second season for me. In the beginning of the year, I
was injured and out for five months.
"By not playing, my ranking fell, but since I started back in July it's been
really good."