Caroline Wozniacki Wins 2016 Toray Pan Pacific Open

Caroline Wozniacki (click to enlarge)

Building on her improved play over the summer, Caroline Wozniacki won her first tournament of the season at the 2016 Toray Pan Pacific Open. The former world #1, a semifinalist at the US Open earlier this month, took out Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the Tokyo final, 7-5 6-3. After being down 5-7 0-5, Osaka rallied to 3-5 in the final set but couldn’t quite pull even. Still, Caro was full of praise for the up and coming Japanese/Haitian player, who will turn 19 next month. Wozniacki, only 26 herself despite feeling like she has been around forever, had a strong run to the title, defeating Belinda Bencic, Carla Suarez Navarro and #2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Although it wasn’t too long ago that some were writing Sunshine off as past her glory days, with the tour in a state of flux at the moment, if Wozniacki can continue to play as she has this summer and into the fall, the Danish star could still be a Major threat moving forward.