Naomi Osaka wins WTA Pan Pacific Open in Osaka

Former world No.1 Naomi Osaka won her first singles title since the Australian Open in January, beating Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Toray Pan Pacific Open final in Japan.

Enjoying strong support from a parochial crowd, top seed Osaka dominated the match with her powerful groundstrokes to win 6-2 6-3 in Osaka on Sunday.

It is world No.4 Osaka’s first title in the country of her birth — she lost Pan Pacific Open finals in Tokyo in 2016 and 2018 — and fourth in her career.

She won back-to-back Grand Slam titles at the 2018 US Open in 2018 and the Australian Open in January.

Her first career title came at Indian Wells in March 2018.

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“I just wanted to win this really bad,” she told wtatennis.com.

“I think what I learned from this tournament is just to focus every point, and just to have really positive energy.”

Naomi Osaka wins her 4th career title and 1st @torayppo, defeats Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 62 63.

Osaka won 100% of her 1st serve points (20/20).

1st title since winning the Austrlaian Open.

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) September 22, 2019

Osaka improves her record at the Pan Pacific Open to 11-6, with those 11 wins coming in her past 14 matches at the tournament.

She also elevates her win-loss record in 2019 to an impressive 33-13.

She is expected to remain at world No.4 when next week’s rankings are released, but closes the gap behind third-ranked Elina Svitolina.

'It's really special for me to win here.'

Some words by your @torayppo champion @Naomi_Osaka_ ???????? pic.twitter.com/TDEweHTKv7

— WTA (@WTA) September 22, 2019