Chennai WTA Champion Janice Tjen Moves One Step Higher

CHENNAI, SUNDAY – Janice Tjen added to her achievements in 2025 in the professional tennis arena by winning the WTA 250 Chennai. This title reflects Janice's progress and serves as a foundation for her to continue advancing to greater heights.

The Indonesian female tennis player became the champion after defeating Kimberly Birrell (Australia) in the final held at the SDAT Tennis Stadium, Chennai, India, on Sunday (2/11/2025) evening WIB. Janice won with a score of 6-4, 6-3.

"Thank you to my coach who has always been by my side. I am playing better from set to set and today I have tried even harder than before," said Janice, accompanied by her coach, Chris Bint, and fellow Indonesian tennis player, Aldila Sutjiadi, at the sidelines of the court.

Together with Aldila, Janice also appeared in the women's doubles final, which took place 30 minutes after the award ceremony for the champions and finalists of the women's singles. Janice/Aldila faced an experienced international pair competing in the WTA Tour, Storm Hunter/Monica Niculescu (Australia/Romania).

The title in Chennai was achieved by Janice in her second final of the WTA 250, the lowest level in the WTA Tour structure. She lost in her first final at this level, which took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in September.

Her appearance in Sao Paulo occurred approximately three weeks after making her debut at the Grand Slam event, namely the US Open. Janice competed through the qualifying rounds and reached the second round (losing to Emma Raducanu).

Janice secured a qualifying ticket thanks to her outstanding performance over the previous year in the professional World Tour Tennis (WTT) tournament organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

After graduating from Pepperdine University in the United States, which served as her pathway to hone her skills as a tennis player, Janice returned to professional competition. Had she not followed the advice of her coach at the university and the suggestion from Aldila to return to professional tennis, Janice might not have won 13 out of 16 WTT tournament finals in the year that subsequently took her to Flushing Meadows, New York, to participate in the US Open.

From the Grand Slam stage, Janice entered the door to compete in a series of WTA Tour tournaments such as in Chennai. After competing in the WTT without a world ranking in June 2024, Janice will occupy a position in the top 60 of the world rankings, rising from 82nd place, at the beginning of this week.

Before Janice, there were not many Indonesian female tennis players who could achieve titles in WTA Tour tournaments, especially in singles events. In 2001, there was Angelique Widjaja who won the WTA Bali Tier III, equivalent to the current WTA 250.

In the doubles competition, the results achieved by the Indonesian women were better. Yayuk Basuki became the champion of the WTA Tier I (equivalent to WTA 1000) in Canada alongside Caroline Vis (Netherlands) in 1997. They also won the WTA Tier II in Dubai in 2001, which is on par with WTA 500.

Wynne Prakusya also holds the title of women's doubles champion at the WTA 500 level, specifically from the WTA San Jose, which was last held in 2022. Wynne won the championship in 2001 while partnering with Janet Lee (Taiwan).

Angelique's best result in doubles competition was reaching the final of the WTA Tier I in Canada in 2003. Partnering with Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela), Angelique lost to Martina Navratilova/Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Despite winning in straight sets, Janice had a tight match against Birrell in a two-hour match. Janice took an immediate lead when she broke Birrell's serve in the opening game, but after three games, she found it difficult to extend her lead.

With Janice serving in the fourth game, Birrell had seven chances to break the 23-year-old Indonesian's serve. There were 13 deuces in the game as Janice and Birrell repeatedly failed to capitalize on their lead.

Each lead was followed by an unforced error in the subsequent points. Janice ultimately held her serve, taking a 3-1 lead with a crosscourt forehand winner.

Kimberly is a tennis player who can change things at any moment. So, I tried to play my best.

Both players' consecutive errors in that game were part of Janice's 24 unforced errors and Birrell's 27 in the first set. That's more than the 14 Janice made and Birrell's 11 winners.

The start of the second set was similar to the opening set, when Janice broke Birrell's serve in the first game. This time, Janice was able to quickly pull away, taking a 4-0 lead, aided by Birrell's poor serve. The 2025 Australian Open mixed doubles finalist (along with John-Patrick Smith) made two double faults in the third game, leading to Janice's second break.

However, Birrell nearly repeated what she did in the semifinals, which was to win in three sets after trailing 0-5 in the deciding set. She closed the gap against Janice until the score changed to 4-3.

Recalling what Birrell did in the semifinals, Janice attempted to play more aggressively, including in her service reception position. This tactic paid off when she broke her opponent's serve in the ninth game, which determined her victory.

"Kimberly is a player who can change things at any moment. So, I tried to play my best," said Janice.

If she can add a title in Chennai from the doubles event with Aldila, Janice will increase her doubles titles from the WTA 250 level after playing alongside Polish tennis player, Kataryzna Piter, at WTA Guangzhou. Meanwhile, Aldila could add five titles from that level.