U.S.-Russia pair claim doubles victory at 2024 Hana Bank Korea Open

Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Liudmila Samsonova of Russia won the doubles event at the 2024 Hana Bank Korea Open on Sunday.

Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, left, and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States pose with trophies after winning the 2024 Hana Bank Korea Open doubles final at Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center in southern Seoul on Sunday. [NEWS1]

Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Liudmila Samsonova of Russia beat Zhang Shuai of China and Miyu Kato of Japan 6-1 and 6-0 on Sunday to become the champions in the doubles event at the 2024 Hana Bank Korea Open for the first time.

A large number of Koreans gathered at Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center in southern Seoul on the last day of the Korea Open, although there was no single Korean player in both the doubles and singles finals.

The doubles final began first, with Melichar-Martinez and Samsonova dominating what turned out to be a purely one-sided match from the start, taking the score 6-1 to claim the first set.

The two denied the Japan-China duo a comeback, securing point after point to bring the score to 6-0, sealing their first Korea Open title only 50 minutes after the match started.

Melichar-Martinez and Samsonova then threw autographed balls after their victory, drawing a massive cheer from the stands.

The duo became the first to win the Korea Open after it became a WTA 500 event.

First started in 2004, the annual tournament became a WTA 125 event in 2021 and was upgraded to a WTA 250 competition the following year, before being upgraded to a 500 event this year, with the number representing the amount of ranking points the winners earn.

This year’s doubles final did not see a single Korean player for the third straight time, with Choi Ji-hee and Han Na-lae, who won the doubles title in 2018 and 2021, remaining as the last Koreans to secure victory. Neither competed this year.

Jang Su-jeong was the last Korean alive in the tournament, but she crashed out of the doubles quarterfinals with Sloane Stephens of the United States on Sept. 19.

Jang, who made a record ninth appearance in the Korea Open, also competed in the singles event, but ended her run in the round of 32, as did fellow Korean Back Da-yeon.

The two Korean players’ early exits extended the country’s losing streak in the singles event at the Korea Open. No Korean player has ever reached the singles final in the tournament's history, although two players from Asia have won — Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm in 2009 and China's Zhu Lin in 2021.

The singles final between Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Daria Kasatkina of Russia was due to take place later in the afternoon as of press time Sunday.

Neither have yet to win a title at the Korea Open, although Haddad Maia finished runner-up in the singles event in 2017. For Kasatkina, this year marks her first time reaching the Korea Open final.

Defending singles champion Jessica Pegula of the United States was absent from this year’s tournament as she did not compete due to an injury. The tournament still saw strong competitor 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of Britain, but she was unable to finish her run as she withdrew from the singles quarterfinals on Saturday due to a leg injury.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]