By Chris Oddo | Sunday October 21, 2018
Karolina Pliskova saved all 10 break points she faces to knock off defending champion Caroline Wozniacki in Singapore.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Asia Pacific
Tenth time wasn’t a charm for Caroline Wozniacki.
The defending champion missed on all ten of her break point opportunities, including two in the final game, to fall to heavy-hitting Karolina Pliskova, 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday night at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
“I think the game was pretty solid from my side,” said Pliskova, who improved to 4-6 lifetime against Wozniacki and has now won four of seven against the Dane, after the match. “I think she started a little bit nervous at the beginning of the match, it’s always tough to defend the title.”
Pliskova improves to 1-0 in the White Group, along with Elina Svitolina, who eased past 2011 champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-3 in Sunday’s first match.
The flirt-with-trouble-and-emerge-unscathed theme developed early, as Pliskova saved a pair of break points to hold for 1-1 in the first set and the World No.8 would soon save another pair to hold for 5-1 in the opening set.
Big points decided the match and it was Pliskova who had the decided advantage in them—she broke twice on five opportunities in the contest and did noteworthy damage with her forehand all night. Wozniacki, on the other hand, missed on her many chances because she didn’t play aggressively enough. The Dane had success taking her backhand up the line but didn’t so often enough, and she didn’t employ her wide-angled crosscourt backhand or inside-out forehand enough to open up more opportunities to use the shot.
Pliskova closed out the first set with a service hold and quickly broke for 6-2, 1-0 when Wozniacki netted a backhand, one of her 17 unforced errors on the evening.
It felt as if Wozniacki was close to cracking the code shortly thereafter, but Pliskova saved three break points, the final with a giant service winner down the T, to hold for 2-0.
Still, the defending champion persisted, saving a break point to hold for 2-3 and earning another break point with Pliskova serving at 4-3. Yet again Wozniacki failed to convert and dropped to 0 for 8 on the evening on her break opportunities.
After saving two match points Wozniacki had two final chances to level up but a break of serve—let alone a comeback victory—was simply not in the cards on this day.
Pliskova closed affairs in 92 minutes and will set her sights on clinching a semifinal berth on Tuesday.
The Czech takes over the WTA lead in wins with 48 and improves to 4-4 lifetime at the WTA Finals. She was a semifinalist last season, falling to Wozniacki in straight sets.