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Garbine Muguruza beats Caroline Garcia in Pan Pacific Open, Karolina Pliskova out

Spain's Garbine Muguruza tightened her grip on the world number one ranking with victory over Caroline Garcia in Tokyo, after Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova lost to Angelique Kerber.

Muguruza saw off French ninth seed Garcia 6-2 6-4 to reach the semi-finals, where she will face Danish third seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Meanwhile, Germany's Kerber beat world number four Pliskova 7-6 (7-5) 7-5.

Pliskova could have moved within 100 points of Muguruza this week.

World number two Simona Halep and number three Elina Svitolina are not playing this week, meaning Muguruza now has the chance to strengthen her position at the top of the rankings, which she secured for the first time last week.