The Baseline Player of the Week: Caroline Wozniacki

Every week Baseline will select a “Player of the Week.” That athlete may not always win the highest category tournament that week, but perform the best compared to their recent playing history.

It may have taken seven tries, but Caroline Wozniacki’s first title of 2017 was sweet nonetheless.

After losing her first six finals of the year, Wozniacki avoided another hiccup with a relatively straightforward 6-0, 7-5 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to come out on top at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

With the win, she claimed her 26th career WTA singles trophy, and extending her streak of title wins to at least one in ten consecutive years.

"I really enjoy playing here in Tokyo," Wozniacki said. "The court suits my game well and I feel good having won the title this year again."

Wozniacki should feel good, as she was unable to win a set in any of her six previous finals this season. In fact, the former World No. 1 won an average of just over three games per set in those matches — five of the players she faced were ranked inside the Top 15.

But it was apparent that it would take a special performance to oust Wozniacki in Tokyo. After avenging her loss earlier this year in Strasbourg against Shelby Rogers in three sets, Wozniacki saved two match points against No.5-seeded Dominika Cibulkova before the Slovakian retired with an injury.

From then on, Wozniacki showed why she is once again closing in on the Top 5.

Before last week, the Dane trailed World No. 1 Garbine Muguruza 3-2 in their head-to-head. But nobody would have known it by watching her dismantle the aggressive Spaniard, 6-2, 6-0 in exactly an hour to advance to the final. Muguruza had won over 66 percent of her first serve points this season, yet she only managed to earn 43 percent of points on her first delivery against Wozniacki, who broke her six times.

The final could have gotten sticky after Pavlyuchenkova saved a match point on her serve at 4-5 in the second set and then another at 5-6, but Wozniacki capitalized on her third opportunity, sealing the defense of her title in Tokyo.

"It was really important for me to get there and just stay focused and aggressive and positive,” Wozniacki said. “I think I managed to do that.”

And to think, it didn’t take seven match points like it did finals to earn the glory.