Ivanovic eases past Wozniacki for title

Former world number one Ana Ivanovic brushed aside Caroline Wozniacki to win the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and move closer to sealing a berth for the season-ending WTA finals in Singapore.

The 6-2, 7-6 win in the $1 million tournament also gave the Serb her fourth WTA title of the year and the 26-year-old is projected to move from the eighth spot to fifth in the race for Singapore.

After trading early break of serves, third-seed Ivanovic breezed through the first set against the former world number one Danish, who won the tournament in 2010.

Wozniacki, the finalist at this year’s US Open, fought back to take a lead early and was up 3-1 in the second set but Ivanovic regained momentum and won five of the next eight games to force a tie-breaker, which she completely dominated.

“Caroline played a great match today,” Ivanovic said after her win. “It was a really good battle out there — there were some very tough moments, especially in the second set. But I just tried to take it one point at a time, and I’m really happy to make it through. It’s just an amazing feeling to win this title.”