“You know your body, and I knew it was going to take a while for me to get back and be back at 100%,” she said after beating Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-2 in the final.

The Dane has struggled with injuries this season, being forced to withdraw from the French Open and tumbing down to a low of World No.74; had she lost her three-set tussle to Taylor Townsend in Flushing, she would have been out of the Top 100.

Her fortunes quickly changed; she earned impressive wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Madison Keys before falling to eventual champion Angelique Kerber in what was her first Grand Slam semifinal in exactly two years. 

She brought that good form into the Asian Swing, where she won a pair of titles, both here and at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

“I never doubted that I could come back and make it here because I’ve worked too hard my whole life on my fitness to keep my body in shape. I was like, ‘It’s going to be okay, where it’s going to be a month, two months, four months.’

“I knew eventually I would be back.”

Mladenovic appeared to be struggling with an injury, requiring lengthy treatment before the start of the second set. Wozniacki conceded that the delay was an unwelcome distraction.

“Obviously it wasn’t easy mentally, because sometimes she would look like she couldn’t play then run like Speedy Gonzalez. It was definitely a mental game.”

Wozniacki is keen to earn that elusive Grand Slam title, but refuses to set herself targets for the future.

“It’s the thing I’m missing on my CV, I just work hard, that’s all I can do,” she explained.

“It’s great winning trophies, it’s what we play for. I’m very pleased with my week this week, I played some good tennis, I’m proud of how I managed to win.”