Tokyo, Sep 25: Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova strolled to a comfortable straight-set win over unseeded Chinese pair of Chen Liang and Zhaoxuan Yang to lift the Toray Pan Pacific Open title here on Saturday.
The second seeded Indo-Czech combination had an easy outing against the Chinese duo as they needed just 51 minutes to down their rivals 6-1, 6-1 in the final of the women’s doubles event.
This is Sania and Strycova’s second title in three tournaments since they have paired up together.
Last month, Sania and Strycova won the Cincinnati Open title with a 7-5, 6-4 win in the final against the Indian's previous partner Martina Hingis and Coco Vandeweghe.
However, Sania and Strycova were ousted from the US Open after losing in straight sets in the quarter-final to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.
Wozniacki, Osaka in final
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki produced a spirited fightback to beat fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 and reach the singles final on Saturday.
Awaiting the Dane in Sunday’s Tokyo final will be Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka, who continued her fairytale run with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
Wozniacki, Pan Pacific champion six years ago, starts favourite as she goes in search of a 24th career title.
“It’s always a grind when you’re injured to come back but you have to go with it. My body feels good and it’s nice the hard work is paying off,” said Wozniacki after almost three hours on court.
Wozniacki had seen her world ranking plunge to 74th after suffering wrist and ankle trouble, her father even telling a Danish tabloid the 26-year-old could walk away from tennis.
Monica, Lara to clash for title
Seoul: Fifth seed Monica Niculescu of Romania on Saturday sailed through to the Korea Open finals to take on Spain's Lara Arruabarrena for the crown. The 28-year-old Niculescu, currently the world number 55, trounced third seed Shuai Zhang of China 6-0, 6-4.
Playing the first event since reaching the third round of the US Open this month, the 55th-ranked Niculescu remained almost perfect throughout the battle, displaying powerful and accurate shots against the 27-year-old Zhang, ranked 40.
Paes-Begemann in final
St Petersburg (Russia): Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann made it to the finals of the St Petersburg Open by recording a straight-set victory over the Russian pair of Mikhail Elgin and Alexander Kudryavtsev in the men’s doubles event. The Indo-German duo defeated the Russian pair 6-3, 7-6 in a match that lasted around one and half hours.
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