Caroline Wozniacki faces Ana Ivanovic in Tokyo final unorbital

Two former world No. 1s. Two tennis stars who have been unlucky in love with golfing partners. Two women who are getting their careers back on track.

Caroline Wozniacki will take on Ana Ivanovic in Sunday's final of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in a battle of two players who have promised so much, but fallen frustratingly short.

Wozniacki's fortunes have taken a remarkable turn for the better since Rory McIlroy called off their wedding -- with a phone call -- in May.



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While the golfer regained his best form immediately, winning two major titles in a month, Wozniacki's resurgence has been more gradual -- culminating in defeat to Serena Williams in this month's U.S. Open final.

The Dane, who won the Tokyo title in 2010, is seeking the 23rd WTA Tour crown of her career, and second this year following July's Istanbul success.

She had to show her renowned fighting qualities on Saturday before battling to a 6-4 2-6 6-2 win over 20-year-old Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who this season has reached the first two finals of her career, winning one of them.

'She was playing really, really well and very aggressively, but I just kept fighting and staying in there, and I think at the end I had just a little bit more energy than she did,' Wozniacki said after her 22nd win in 26 matches since the hard-court swing began.

The 24-year-old needs to improve on her 2-4 career record against Ivanovic, who holds the last of eight qualifying places in the race to feature at the season-ending championships in Singapore -- Wozniacki is ninth, with five slots yet to be decided.

The Serbian, who had an on-off relationship with Australian golfer Adam Scott earlier this decade, has won three of her five finals in 2014 after rebuilding her game and ranking.

Unlike Wozniacki, she has a grand slam title to her name -- the 2008 French Open -- but has not done so well in this season's majors since reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals in January.

Ivanovic lost in the 2007 Tokyo final before it became a premier-level event on the tour, and the 26-year-old has another chance for Japanese success after knocking out top seed Angelique Kerber in Saturday's semifinals.

She came back from 5-3 down in the opening set, winning 10 of the next 13 games to triumph 7-5 6-3 against the German -- who lost to Petra Kvitova in last year's final.

'In the beginning it really took me some time to adjust to her game. It wasn't like my previous matches,' Ivanovic said after her 51st win this season, equaling her career best achieved seven years ago.

'But once I adjusted and got more aggressive it started to go my way, and I'm really happy with the win today because she's always such a tough and challenging opponent.'

Meanwhile, Romania's Monica Niculescu won the second WTA Tour title of her career Saturday, beating France's Alize Cornet 6-4 6-0 in the final of the Guangzhou International Women's Open.

American Varvara Lepchenko will play Czech Karolina Pliskova in Sunday's Korea Open final in Seoul.

Read: Why Wozniacki is thriving again

Read: Lessons from this year's grand slams

Read: Ivanovic searches for winning formula

'She was playing really, really well and very aggressively, but I just kept fighting and staying in there, and I think at the end I had just a little bit more energy than she did,' Wozniacki said after her 22nd win in 26 matches since the hard-court swing began. She had to show her renowned fighting qualities on Saturday before battling to a 6-4 2-6 6-2 win over 20-year-old Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who this season has reached the first two finals of her career, winning one of them. American Varvara Lepchenko will play Czech Karolina Pliskova in Sunday's Korea Open final in Seoul. 'But once I adjusted and got more aggressive it started to go my way, and I'm really happy with the win today because she's always such a tough and challenging opponent.' American Varvara Lepchenko will play Czech Karolina Pliskova in Sunday's Korea Open final in Seoul. Wozniacki's fortunes have taken a remarkable turn for the better since Rory McIlroy called off their wedding -- with a phone call -- in May. Meanwhile, Romania's Monica Niculescu won the second WTA Tour title of her career Saturday, beating France's Alize Cornet 6-4 6-0 in the final of the Guangzhou International Women's Open. She had to show her renowned fighting qualities on Saturday before battling to a 6-4 2-6 6-2 win over 20-year-old Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who this season has reached the first two finals of her career, winning one of them. Read: Lessons from this year's grand slams American Varvara Lepchenko will play Czech Karolina Pliskova in Sunday's Korea Open final in Seoul. She had to show her renowned fighting qualities on Saturday before battling to a 6-4 2-6 6-2 win over 20-year-old Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who this season has reached the first two finals of her career, winning one of them. American Varvara Lepchenko will play Czech Karolina Pliskova in Sunday's Korea Open final in Seoul.

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