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Karolina Pliskova, right, of Czech Republic, holds her champion trophy and Naomi Osaka, left, of Japan holds her runner-up trophy during the award ceremony of the Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament in Tokyo on Sun. Sep. 23. (AP/PTI)[/caption]
Tachikawa (Japan), Sep. 23 (IANS): Former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic won an upset victory over Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-4, 6-4 to win the Pan Pacific Open title in Tokyo, putting an end to Osaka's 10-match winning streak.
Pliskova, World No. 8, claimed her 11th career trophy and her second this season after beating the current US Open champion, World No. 7, in 63 minutes, reports Efe.
"It was important for me to play two sets and not go three sets - also for recovery for the next tournament - and I needed a match like this," Pliskova, fourth seed, said after the win.
"I didn't want to try to overpower her because I think she has more power than me," the 26-year-old added. "So I just wanted to be patient, wait for my chances and trying to attack, to serve well, to mix the speed a bit, to play a lot to her backhand."
Third-seed Osaka, 20, said after the match that she "felt really tired today" and that she "wasn't doing the little things well," after having not dropped a set in tournament until Sunday.
Pliskova is set to climb to the seventh position in the WTA rankings and strengthens her chances of competing in a third consecutive WTA Finals Singapore.
