( CNN ) -- Japan 's Kimiko Date Krumm has failed in her bid to become the oldest-ever winner of a WTA Tour event , losing in the final of the Japan Open to Thailand 's Tamarine Tanasugarn . Date Krumm , who at 40 would have beaten the record set by Billie Jean King who won a tournament in Birmingham , England , aged 39 years , seven months and 23 days , was defeated 7-5 6-7 6-1 in a marathon match lasting over three hours . The Osaka victory gave 33-year-old Tanasugarn her fourth career title , following her victories in 2008 and 2009 at 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands and in 2003 in Hyderabad , India . Date Krumm , who had beaten top seed Samantha Stosur and third seed Shahar Peer en route to the final , told the official WTA Tour website : `` I just tried my best and fought as hard as I could . `` Nobody wants to lose , so I tried everything . Now I will play some ITF events followed by the Asian Games -- so I will be continuing to play tennis for the rest of the year . '' Meanwhile , former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic claimed her first title in two years after defeating Patty Schnyder to win the Austrian Open in Linz . The seventh-seeded Serb , who had failed to win a tournament since she triumphed at the same event in 2008 , proved a class above the Swiss to claim a 6-1 6-2 win in just 47 minutes . Schnyder has also now gone two years without a tournament victory -- and this defeat means she has now lost three finals in Linz following reverses in 2005 and 2007 .
Kimiko Date Krumm fails in her bid to become the oldest winner of a WTA Tour event . The 40-year-old beaten by Thailand 's Tamarine Tanasugarn in the Japan Open final . Ana Ivanovic defeats Switzerland 's Patty Schnyder to win the WTA event in Linz .