When Janice Tjen came to the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, weather conditions were likely on her mind as she geared up for a successful title defense, having won the title in 2025. However, as it turned out, periodic rain interruptions along with smog from festivities around were enough to push the final to Monday, with the World No. 75 not too pleased about the proceedings.

“And they still wanted the match to go ahead,” said Tjen on her Instagram story as she shared the smoggy conditions around the venue, while also sharing the high AQI score of 1556 in Chennai at the time.

The singles final at the Chennai Open between Janice Tjen and Magda Linette was originally scheduled at 6:30 p.m. The doubles final had gone off without a hitch before that, where the Swiss pair of Simona Waltert and Naima Karamoko beat the home pair of Vaishnavi Adkar and Rutuja Bhosale. However, rain interruptions at the venue pushed back the original start time from 6:30 p.m.

However, once the rain had subsided, the court dried and was prepared for the final, which was moved to a new time slot of 9:00 p.m.That is when the tournament organizers had to take into account the air pollution and the resulting smog from bursting crackers during the Diwali celebrations in the region. The call was made, and the final was pushed to an 11 a.m. start on Monday, which was later confirmed on the WTA website. For the venue, it’s a bit of a shame as the Chennai Open is all set to be replaced by a WTA 250 event in Manila from next year, largely to cater to the fans of Alexandra Eala.

This is not the first time that weather has had the final say during a WTA final in 2026. Back at the Iasi Open, the final between Paula Badosa and Mayar Sheriff was postponed to the next day due to rain. Even the Washington final between Jessica Pegula and Alexandra Eala was moved after the pair had played one set on Sunday and had to return on Monday to complete the match.

As for the singles final in Chennai, both Tjen and Linette will hope to regain their focus on the new day, which will decide the last Tour-level title (besides the WTA Finals), which is ongoing, of the 2026 season.

Janice Tjen Is Looking for the Second Title of Her Career

The 2025 Chennai Open is the only title in Tjen’s resume so far, and the Indonesian will be keen to double the tally in Monday’s final. She came into the event as the top seed and lost only one set in her four matches, which came against Polina Kudermetova in the quarterfinals, following which she had a confident straight-set win over Robin Montgomery in the semifinal.

Winning the Chennai Open will cap off a significant year for Tjen, as even though the young Indonesian player did not have strong on-court results, she did get the chance to play doubles with Venus Williams at the Guangzhou Open, something she talked about in an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports.

“Definitely, playing with someone like Venus, there are so many things you can take home, and it’s nice to hear what she said about our partnership,” Tjen said in the interview. “She is a great player with a lot of experience, and we talked quite a bit, especially on the court. There are so many different kinds of situations on the court that can happen, and I think the first thing that I can remember is to just keep going, even though maybe the scoreline doesn’t say so. Sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to, but just keep going and keep trusting yourself.” 

Overall, Tjen’s doubles results have been better than her singles record over the years. She has four doubles titles to her name, including two she has won this year in Hobart and Osaka, teaming up with the likes of Katarzyna Piter and Storm Hunter, respectively. As for her singles record this year, Tjen has not fared well, having as many as 13 first-round exits. Apart from Chennai, Dubai and Cincinnati were the only other events where the Indonesian managed to win consecutive matches.