Karolina Pliskova has reached the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix for the first time after a 6:4, 6:2 over the unseeded Anett Kontaveit (Estonia). The sixth in the world ranking from the Czech Republic will play Coco Vandeweghe (No. 16) from the USA on Sunday (1.20 pm/live at DAZN) after her tenth individual title on the WTA Tour. It would only be her second tournament victory at a clay court event after triumphing in Prague in 2015.
By Ulrike Weinrich from Stuttgart
After 65 minutes, “Miss Aces”, who defeated a total of 452 aces in 68 games last season, turned her first match point. She did not score a single point on her own serve in the second set. Stuttgart has thus already become an extremely successful pavement for Pliskova this year.
Last weekend, she won the semi-final with the Czech Fed Cup team against the hosts Angelique Kerber and Julia Görges (4-1).
Pliskova was also dominant against Kontaveit. She missed three break points at 2:2, but soon after she lost her 5:4 lead to the world’s number 31. After 36 minutes, the US Open finalist from 2016 took the opening round with her third ace.
The 22 years of Kontaveit were the efforts of the previous day. In her 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) in the quarter-finals, the right-hander from Tallinn had stood on the Centre Court in the Porsche Arena for 2’55 hours. In the round of the last 16, Kontaveit had benefited from the thigh injury of Angelique Kerber from Kiel, who gave up 6-0, 2-0 against the Australian Open Round of 16 finalist of 2018.
Pliskova used the force wear of Kontaveit and after another break he was leading 3:1 in the second set. Throughout the game, she scored the point when her first serve came in 96 percent of the cases. With her sixth ace she made the first final entry of a Czech woman at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix perfect.
Last time Karolina Pliskova had reached the final in Eastbourne in early July 2017 – and won there against Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark). In a direct comparison with Coco Vandeweghe, who won the first semi-final on Saturday 6-4, 6-2 against Caroline Garcia (France), the Czech is trailing 2-3.