Angelique Kerber lost her bid to take over the WTA No.1 ranking as the German fell 6-3 6-1 in the Cincinnati Masters final on Sunday to Karolina Pliskova.
The Czech 15th seed earned the win of her life in 62 minutes as she got off to a fast start against Rio silver medallist Kerber, who never found here way in the match just a week out from the US Open in New York.
The Rio Olympics silver medallist was broken twice in the first set to trail 3-0 from a forehand wide and lost the opener after 32 minutes.
Pliskova, winner of five previous titles, went up an early break in the second set, with a frustrated Kerber dropping to 1-5 after double-faulting on a break point.
Pliskova finished the job a game later on her second match-winning chance after just 62 minutes.
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"I had a pretty good week, improving match to match," Pliskova said.
"I was expecting to play good, but I wasn't expecting it to be that easy.
"Some days you're losing matches; some days you win. I'll try to take the positive things from the match and from the last few weeks to New York."
Serena Williams will remain as No.1, continuing her streak of 184 weeks as a result of the Kerber loss.
"I tried my best, but sometimes you have days where it's not working so good," Kerber said.
Pliskova now stands 3-4 against Kerber and becomes the first from her nation to win the Cincinnati trophy.
