World number six defeats Pliskova in straight sets
Singapore, Oct. 28: A tireless Caroline Wozniacki stormed into the final of the season-finale in Singapore with a straight sets victory over Karolina Pliskova, ending the Czech’s dreams of finishing world number one.
The world number six prevailed in a rollercoaster match 7-6 (11/9), 6-3 in one hour and 57 minutes to reach the decider of the WTA Finals for the first time since 2010.
Wozniacki will play American veteran Venus Williams or in-form Caroline Garcia in Sunday’s final. She rebounded back to top form after a tough threeset loss to Garcia on Friday night.
“That was a little bit crazy, it was a bit of a rollercoaster. I’ve been playing really great tennis
this week. It means a lot to me to be in the final,” Wozniacki said after the match.
Long rallies, with both the in-form players slugging from the baseline, highlighted a grinding start. There was little separating the pair as both went neck and neck with holds of serve hard to come by.
There were four straight breaks in the first set and Wozniacki held off three set points in the 10th game.
The Dane blew a 6-1 lead in the tiebreak, losing six straight points, but eventually claimed the marathon first set lasting 82 minutes.
Wozniacki seemingly had a stranglehold of the match with an early break in the second set only for Pliskova to storm back. But she had a decisive break in the eighth game and then served it out to book her spot in the final.
Pliskova needed to lift the trophy on Sunday to overtake world number one Simona Halep in the rankings.
The 25-year-old had been hoping to regain the top ranking after being crowned world number one in July.