Karolina Pliskova battled to her first WTA title of 2016 with a 7-6(8) 7-5 victory over Alison Riske in the final of the WTA AEGON Nottingham Open – ending the American’s nine match unbeaten run.
Rain delayed the start of the final in Nottingham but the fans who waited until the 4pm start time were treated to a gripping spectacle. Karolina Pliskova’s big serving dug her out of a number of holes in the first set as she saved six set points before sealing a tight 10-8 tie-break.
In the second set it was Pliskova who was forced to do the chasing, twice recovering from a break down including fending off yet another set point. The top seeded Czech then sealed the Elena Baltacha trophy with a glorious cross court backhand, finding the edge of the line.
Karolina Pliskova Edges Nottingham Final for First WTA Title of 2016
This was the fourth time the pair had met but was their first meeting on grass. Their last encounter – back in 2013 – went to Karolina Pliskova in straight sets and she held a 2-1 winning record heading into today’s final.
However, Alison Riske has put together some sensational form in recent weeks – winning nine straight matches and not dropping a shot en route to the final in Nottingham. Despite looking relaxed throughout the warm-up, it was Riske who began nervously, dropping her second service game and struggling to cope with the power and accuracy of the Pliskova serve.
The Czech player may top most of the WTA’s serving stats but Riske began to find the returning game that has carried her to her third career final. As a fire-engine roared noisily past the venue, emergency bells were ringing for Pliskova as the American struck back, sealing the break with a superb cross court forehand winner.
Riske’s groundstrokes were causing her opponent all sorts of problems and a number of pinpoint accurate strokes down the line created more set point opportunities. Some characteristically strong serving saved Pliskova and a tie-break beckoned.
Once again it was Riske who had the bulk of the chances during the tie-break but in the end a monstrous serve which couldn’t be returned gave the first set to the #17 ranked player.
With heavy strapping on her left leg and an exhausting couple of matches the day before, the question now was whether a jaded-looking Pliskova had enough left in the tank to seal a second set. With Riske on the offensive and forcing errors from the Czech’s racket, the first break of the second set went the way of the American, who accompanied it with a “come on” roared to the dark clouds above.
As is so common in tennis, it didn’t take long for momentum to change hands and an uncharacteristically error-strewn game from Riske gifted the break back to Pliskova. As the second set headed towards the business end, serves started to drift wayward. The break back to 4-4 was then accompanied by a further two breaks, only prevented from becoming three by an ace to save a Riske break point.
After being 4-2 up, Riske suddenly found herself serving to stay in the match, and the pressure looked to be telling with a couple of unforced errors and a double fault bringing up the first championship point for Pliskova.
Throughout the entire match, Riske had been sublime at the net – but for the first time she was beaten by a breathtaking cross court return of serve. The Czech finally broke her calm on-court persona, bending forwards and roaring triumphantly at the grass..
It was a marvellous end to a match worthy of its final billing and Pliskova – only competing as a last minute wildcard – was understandably excited about winning her first title of the year.
“It feels great especially after those two matches that I had and I’ve won four tie-breaks in a row now,” she said after the match. “All of them are really tough and all of them I had set points down. I’m just really happy that I made it and just really happy that I have the trophy in the end.
“She played some good shots and in the end I was just happy that I made the first set because she had a few set points in the first. Obviously I was serving a little bit better than her – some aces which I was counting with the aces. So really happy for myself they hold me in the important moments but I think she has very tough tennis on grass.
“I couldn’t break her and then I break her two times in a row and I lost two times my serve in a row which shouldn’t happen.
“Also happy that I didn’t have to play tie-break in the second set because I think a third set would have been really tough. She was improving I think with the time and I was not feeling 100 per cent fit in the end of the second set. The leg was fine but I think a third set would be very tough for me.
Pliskova will now join her sister, Kristyna, in Birmingham for the AEGON Classic where she will face Barbora Strycova in the first round.
“I’m just happy with the matches I played here so far. Not all of them were good but I’ve played some hours on the grass now so I feel confident to go to Birmingham and even if I don’t do anything in Birmingham and Eastbourne I just have some matches under my belt which is important to Wimbledon.
There are a few concerns though over her fitness, especially after she was forced to withdraw from the doubles draw in Nottingham on Saturday.
“I felt it [my hip] a little bit today and even yesterday so I just decided that it was going to be better that I withdraw from the doubles because I wanted to be ready for all my singles matches and even for the next week. I think it was a good decision so it paid off and I’m just going to see a physio but hopefully I’ll be okay.
Alison Riske – who was searching for her first WTA title in nearly two years – instead found herself with a second WTA runner-up trophy of 2016.
“I felt like I also gave myself a lot of opportunities and I had a lot of different chances and whether it be she served an ace or she played a really good point, the opportunities were gone,” she told reporters. “I gave myself as many chances as I could and credit to her for really stepping it up.
“It was a great week for me. Obviously I hate to end it this way and lose but it was definitely a positive couple of weeks for me and I look forward to continuing to play hopefully in Eastbourne.
“She’s a great player. She’s an awesome grass court player too. I think she’s one of the best grass court players out there for sure. I did the best I could and we’ll move onto the next one.
Meanwhile, the doubles final was sealed by Andrea Hlavackova and Shuai Peng who defeated Gabriela Dabrowski and Zhaoxuan Yang 7-5 3-6 10-7.
