Enlarge imageSEOUL (Reuters) - Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm won her first WTA Tour title in 13 years with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Korea Open on Sunday.
A day shy of her 39th birthday, the former world number four overpowered the second seed to become the oldest winner of a WTA tournament since American Billie Jean King in 1983.
King was 39 years, seven months and 23 days old when she won in Birmingham. It was Date Krumm's eighth career title.
Date Krumm, whose last win came when the Spice Girls topped the charts and Bill Clinton was still U.S. president, returned to professional tennis in April last year after a 12-year hiatus.
"I'm extremely happy," she told reporters. "I am about to turn 39, so there was no big pressure on me at all. I honestly don't know where I get the energy from at my age.
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"I think I have another couple of years left in me."
Date Krumm reached a career-high ranking of fourth in 1995 but abruptly quit the following year after making the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the last eight of the Atlanta Olympics.
Her last WTA Tour victory before the 12-year break from the sport came in August 1996 when she beat Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in San Diego.
(Writing by Alastair Himmer in Tokyo; Editing by Sonia Oxley)
