Southeast Asian tennis player makes history with a WTA Tour double title win

Janice Tjen has made history for Indonesian tennis by winning the women's singles title at the 2025 Chennai Open, becoming the first player from her country to claim a WTA Tour trophy in 23 years.

Janice Tjen achieves a double championship at the Chennai Open

In the WTA 250 final held at the Chennai Open (India) on November 2nd, the 23-year-old former Pepperdine University standout defeated Kimberly Birrell (Australia) 6-4, 6-3, capping off an impressive season filled with historic milestones.

Before Tjen, the last Indonesian to win a WTA event was Angelique Widjaja, who secured her final title at Pattaya in 2002. Last month, Tjen reached her first WTA final in São Paulo but finished as runner-up. This time, she completed the unfinished business by not only winning her first title but also surpassing Widjaja in the historical rankings.

The Chennai victory is expected to boost Tjen to world No. 53 — higher than Widjaja’s record of No. 55 — making her the second highest-ranked Indonesian female player in history, only behind the legend Yayuk Basuki (who reached No. 19).