Osaka continues run towards homecoming Tokyo title
The US Open champion beat Camila Giorgi 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with world number five Karolina Pliskova in the Tokyo Open final.
Naomi Osaka continued her winning streak with another comfortable victory to move into a Tokyo Open final clash against Karolina Pliskova.
Osaka, who became the first Japanese player to win a grand slam with her US Open success earlier this month, eased through her semi-final, beating Italian Camila Giorgi 6-2 6-3 in 71 minutes.
"I think [my serve] got me out of a lot of trouble today," said Osaka, who has now won 10 matches on the trot. "She was playing well, and I served well. I really wanted to get to the final."
Osaka, runner-up at the tournament in 2016, is yet to drop a set at the event this year, having lost just one on her way to the US Open title.
She lost just eight points on serve against Giorgi to book a meeting with Czech fourth seed Pliskova, who was made to work much harder before ousting Croatian Donna Vekic 6-2 4-6 6-3 in a little over two hours.
"It was another long one today," Pliskova said after the match. "I feel like I’m improving in every match, but the opponents are always more tough. That’s normal in semi-finals - there’s no easy opponents.
"I think Donna was playing well and she’s beaten a lot of tough players this tournament. I was expecting a tough one. For a while it was looking like it maybe could be under two hours, but not really."
Osaka and Pliskova have split their two previous meetings, but the former won comfortably when they met at Indian Wells in March.