Third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-2, 7-6 (2) on Sunday to win the Pan Pacific Open and capture her fourth WTA title of the year. The 26-year-old Serb needed 99 minutes to win the battle of the former world number ones
Ivanovic broke the 24-year-old Dane's serve in the first, fifth and seventh games of the first set on a sun-drenched hard-centre court at the Ariake Coliseum. She rushed forward to volley a cross-court winner at the outset of the eighth and finished the set with two straight service aces.
Wozniacki broke serve for a 3-1 second set lead and was up 30-15 in the fourth game, just two points from a 4-1 lead. But Ivanovic came storming back, winning five of the next eight games to push the set to a tiebreak, where she played almost flawlessly.
Ivanovic first played at the Pan Pacific eight years ago when she finished runner-up, her best result before Sunday's win.
"It was so hard physically. We had a lot of long rallies but to win the title is amazing," said the third-seeded Ivanovic, who had ousted Germany's top-seed Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals.
"I really tried to come into the net and finished a lot of points at the net," said the Serb, who is ranked 10th in the world and has won 15 WTA titles, four of them this year.
"I am happy because Wozniacki is a great defensive player and she gets a lot of balls back."
It was the first Pan Pacific Open title for Ivanovic, who has competed in the Tokyo event for eight straight years.
"I've always enjoyed coming here,'' Ivanovic said. "This is a great event and winning today puts me one step closer to the WTA Finals in Singapore.
With the win in Tokyo, Ivanovic is projected to move from No. 8 to No. 5 in the rankings, and with eight players qualifying for the Singapore event, she has a good chance of making it.
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