The air of the Japanese capital is good for Luisa Stefani. In the city where she was a bronze medalist at the Olympics, in 2021, the Brazilian tennis player reached, this Sunday (26), her fourth title this season alone. The partnership between the São Paulo native and the Hungarian Timea Babos won the WTA 500 in Tokyo by beating the Serbian Aleksandra Krunic and the Kazakh Anna Danilina by 2 sets to 0, splits of 6/1 and 6/4.
With the title, Luisa will advance one position in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) doubles ranking, moving from 17th to 16th place. Babos, the Brazilian’s partner, was in 16th place and will move up to 15th. Krunic was 20th in the world and will become 17th, while Danilina will maintain 13th place on the list.
The competition in Japan was the last before Luisa and Babos compete in the WTA Finals, a tournament that will bring together the eight pairs with the best results of the season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, starting next Saturday (1st). Their partnership is seventh in the year’s ranking.
The WTA 500 is the third main level of tournaments on the women’s world circuit and guarantees 500 points to the champions. Only the standard WTA 1000 competitions and Grand Slams (which award 2,000 points to the winners) are worth more. In 2025, Luisa and Babos had already won two other events like the one in Tokyo: Linz, in Austria, and Strasbourg, in France. They also took the doubles trophy at the SP Open (WTA 250 in São Paulo).
“We had a great final and we played well from start to finish. We won all the decisive points and that was the difference today [domingo]. Super happy with another special week in Tokyo, these courts and the city have a very special corner in my heart”, said Luisa, through the press office, remembering the Olympic bronze won alongside Laura Pigossi, also from São Paulo.
