ITF W35 Tauranga (Dec 16) F: Janice Tjen [7] def. Hiromi Abe [4] 6-2, 6-1 Match Recap
Janice Tjen's point to 2-1* 30-40 (top left), to 5-2* 0-15 (top right), and to take the first set 6-2 (bottom) (📸 ITF Media)
Seventh seed and Pepperdine University graduate Janice Tjen, who has been on a tear this season thanks to her six ITF titles (one of them being a W25), sought to close 2024 with a bang in this week's ITF W35 Tauranga as she notably knocked out third seed Julia Grabher 6-1, 6-3 before defeating second seed Kaylah McPhee 6-3, 6-3 thanks to her aggressive, powerful play, before facing fourth seed Hiromi Abe, who then edged out first seed Jaimee Fourlis 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the previous round. As fun as this match was set up to be, this turned out to have a one-way affair toward its end.
Despite conceding one point, Janice started with a service game hold to 1-0 before somehow having a break point in the next game due to Hiromi's third-shot backhand error, but the latter still held her serves to 1-1. The seventh seed then faced a break point in the next game as a result of the fourth seed's forehand return winner, but she saved it with a forehand winner before holding to 2-1. Capitalizing on Hiromi's previous errors, most of which came from her forehand side, Janice fired a cross-court forehand pass to generate her break point before a different error converted it (3-1). Afterward, Janice consolidated with a service game hold to 4-1.
Two games later, there was a slip of a service game due to Janice's double fault, followed by a failed smash 2 points into the next point, but she kept her composure to finally hold her serves to 5-2. The Japanese fourth seed then should have served to stay in the set, but Janice began the game with her fourth-shot forehand winner, overpowering the former to set up her set point before her preceding forehand to Hiromi's forehand error converted it, thus the Indonesian seventh seed broke for the first set 6-2 as she asserted her dominance in this match.
Hiromi Abe's point to 0-0* 0-15 (top left), Janice Tjen's point to 0-0* 40-ad to set up her second break point (top right), to 3-0* 15-40 (middle left), to 5-0* 30-30 (middle right), and to convert her match point to 6-1 (bottom) (📸 🎥 ITF Media)
The second set rather started interestingly as Janice tried to pull a tweener mid-rally, but she missed her final volley trying to respond to Hiromi's preceding forehand, but her serve+1 got her covered before she finally held her serves to 1-0. In the next game, she took advantage of Hiromi's troubled range by going after her forehand, somehow scoring a working smash to secure her second break point before a double fault confirmed the break to 2-0. After Janice strengthened her lead to 3-0, this became a one-way traffic because she fired a smooth forehand pass to set up her break point before doubling her break to 4-0, holding her serves to 5-0 and even volleyed her way to equalize the point, but the bagel did not happen as Hiromi held her serves to 5-1. As a result, Janice earned the opportunity to serve for the match, which she smoothly did, to bake the second-set breadstick (6-1) to confirm the title.
This victory marked Janice's seventh ITF title of this year, surpassing 3 other people who won 6 titles before the last 2 weeks of this season (namely Sonay Kartal, Solana Sierra, and Patricia Maria Tig), her first W35 as well. To add, this also solidified her position inside the Top 500, looking to start the next season with even more confidence as she takes the bigger leap, perhaps kickstarting the resurgence of Indonesian women's tennis in general with the raw potential she has. On the other hand, Hiromi's other ITF title has to wait, taking into account her first ITF title this year in ITF W15 Monastir (Sep 2), where she defeated eighth seed Eryn Cayetano 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the finals.