Osaka faces Pliskova in the finals in Tokyo

The reigning US Open champion, Naomi Osaka refuses to put a break on her acceleration of winning titles. Osaka reaches the finals of the Pan Pacific Open and now looks forward to seizing the title in front of her home crowd. Osaka defeated Italy’s Camila Giorgi in the semifinals and extends her winning streak to 10 matches. Osaka is yet to drop a set in the tournament and she will face Karolina Pliskova in the Tokyo final. They have met twice in their careers and they hold a 1-1 record against each other. The Japanese flourished at Indian Wells this year and Pliskova’s won in Toronto last year. 

The 2016 runner-up, Osaka said, “I was pretty nervous because I really wanted to get to the final,” said 2016 runner-up Osaka, who fired down nine aces in a dominant display. She was playing really well and I felt like I was just trying to survive. But I served really well and that got me out of a lot of trouble today. If she’s on, it would’ve been almost impossible to beat her,” added Osaka. “The only thing that I could do is play as well as I can and hope for the best.”

In Pliskova’s 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory against Donna Vekic in the last four she becomes the fifth player of this season to register 40 main draw match wins. The quarterfinalist at the US Open, Pliskova has reached the finals with a three-set victory in all her matches in Tokyo. “It was another long one today!” Pliskova said. “I feel like I’m improving in every match, but the opponents are always more tough. That’s normal in semifinals – there’s no easy opponents.“I think Donna was playing well and she’s beaten a lot of tough players this tournament. I was expecting a tough one. For a while it was looking like it maybe could be under two hours, but not really.”

The final in Tokyo will be the second WTA final for her this year. “I was getting tired from the match, so it was not as fast as I wanted to serve. But I won, that’s important, which means I have a chance to improve again.” said the former Wolrd Number one, Pliskova.