Angelique Kerber said it is her dream to become world number one after she missed the chance to reach top spot for the first time via the Western and Southern Open.

A win over Karolina Pliskova in the Cincinnati final on Sunday would have seen the world number two replace Serena Williams at the top of the WTA rankings, but her Czech opponent proved far too good, triumphing 6-3 6-1.

Australian Open champion and Olympic Games silver medallist Kerber insisted she is not putting pressure on herself to end Williams' 184-week run at the top.

"For me it's always the goal to play my best tennis, to go far in tournaments, to play tough tennis against tough opponents," the 28-year-old German said.

"It was always a dream to win a grand slam and I won it this year. To be number one would be another one but I'm not putting too much pressure on myself.

"You have to play a really great year, a consistent year to get the chance to one day be the number one. I will continue this and it's still not over. So let's see what happens in the next few weeks and months.

"Of course everyone's talking about this but for me, it was another match, another day, I was trying to focus on the match and when the day comes when I become number one, it will be amazing. But still it's far away and I will hopefully get another chance to have it and reach it one day."