Karolína Plíšková

Karolína Plíšková

Ka.Plíšková at the 2016 US Open
Full name Karolína Plíšková
Country (sports)  Czech Republic
Residence Monte Carlo, Monaco
Born (1992-03-21) 21 March 1992
Louny, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Plays Right-handed (two handed-backhand)
Coach(es) Jiří Vaněk
Prize money $ 4,449,561
Singles
Career record 368–225 (62.06%)
Career titles 6 WTA, 10 ITF
Highest ranking No. 5 (10 October 2016)
Current ranking No. 6 (07 November 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 3R (2015, 2016)
French Open 2R (2014, 2015)
Wimbledon 2R (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
US Open F (2016)
Doubles
Career record 128–108
Career titles 5 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking No. 11 (31 October 2016)
Current ranking No. 11 (31 October 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open SF (2016)
French Open 3R (2016)
Wimbledon SF (2016)
US Open 3R (2016)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Wimbledon 2R (2014)
Team competitions
Fed Cup W (2015), (2016)
Hopman Cup RR (2016)
Last updated on: 13 June 2016.

Karolína Plíšková (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkaroliːna ˈpliːʃkovaː], born 21 March 1992) is a Czech tennis player.

Plíšková has won six singles and five doubles titles on the WTA tour, as well as ten singles and six doubles titles on the ITF circuit in her career. On 12 September 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 6. On 29 August 2016, she peaked at world number 12 in the doubles rankings.

As a junior, Plíšková won the girls' singles event at the 2010 Australian Open, defeating Laura Robson in the final. Playing for the Czech Republic at the Fed Cup, Plíšková has a win–loss record of 9–2,[1] including two won matches in the 2015 Fed Cup World Group final.


Personal life

Plíšková was born in Louny to Radek Plíšek and Martina Plíšková, and has an identical twin sister, Kristýna, who is two minutes older and is also a tennis player.[2][3] She currently lives in Monte Carlo.

She has been previously coached by Jiří Vaněk (parted ways with him in late 2016)[4][5]

Karolína Plíšková has two Polynesian-style tattoos, one on her left thigh and another on the outside of her left arm. Her family members like her parents and her sister have tattoos in same style.

Playing style

Pliskova plays an extremely aggressive style of play, highlighted by her powerful, accurate serve as well as forceful groundstrokes. Pliskova utilizes these, often in tandem with her net play, to extract errors from opponents or win points outright. Pliskova's weaknesses include her ability to break down when off balance, particularly moving toward horizontally, and movement. However, Pliskova's movement, though a tall player, is exceptional for her height. Because of her flat groundstroke motions as well as her height, Pliskova finds difficulty finishing points quickly when given lower balls, particularly sliced shots.

Career

2010

Karolína Plíšková won 2010 Australian Open junior title, defeating Laura Robson in the girls' final.

2012

Plíšková played her first senior Grand Slam tournament main draw at the 2012 French Open. To qualify, she defeated Dia Evtimova, Tamaryn Hendler and Laura Robson. She lost in the first round to world number 8 Marion Bartoli in straight sets.

2013: First WTA title

Plíšková started the year in Brisbane International. She however lost to Olga Puchkova in the first round in two sets. Then in her next tournament in Sydney she qualified, beating Alexandra Panova, Irina Falconi and Estrella Cabeza Candela. In the first round she lost to the third seed, Sara Errani.

Plíšková won her maiden WTA title at the 2013 Malaysian Open. She defeated several seeded players to reach the final against the American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, defeating her in three sets.

At the Generali Ladies Linz in October, Plíšková won her first WTA title in doubles alongside sister Kristýna, becoming the first set of twins in history to win a doubles title together on the tour.[6]

2014: Breakthrough

Plíšková at the 2014 China Open

2014 was a breakthrough year for Plíšková. After consecutive second-round finishes in Auckland and at the Australian Open, she reached her second career WTA tour final in Pattaya City, defeating top-50 players Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sorana Cîrstea before losing to Ekaterina Makarova in the final. She then reached the third round of Indian Wells, the quarterfinals of the Monterrey Open and the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur between March and April. In May, she reached her third career final in Nuremberg, losing to second seed Eugenie Bouchard in three sets. She broke into the top-50 in July and defeated world number 9 Ana Ivanovic in the second round of the US Open. After playing in America, she reached two finals in two consecutive weeks – in Hong Kong, where she lost to Sabine Lisicki, and in Seoul, which she won, defeating Varvara Lepchenko in the final to take her second career title. A third overall title (and second of the year) in Linz ensured Plíšková finished the year in the top-25, ranked world number 24.

As an alternate, Plíšková made a round-robin appearance at the season-closing Tournament of Champions, in lieu of top seed Ekaterina Makarova, losing her sole match against Flavia Pennetta of Italy.

After reaching five finals and winning two of them, and appearing to a broader public at the US Open with a big win over a former world number one, and being eighth seed at the tournament and reaching the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time, 2014 was a breakthrough year for Plíšková. She leaped from world number 67 to 24.[7]

2015: Top 10 debut

Plíšková at the 2015 Apia International Sydney

Plíšková began her year at the 2015 Brisbane International where she defeated former world number 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka in the first round before losing in the second. She reached her first WTA Premier-level final at the 2015 Apia International Sydney, defeating Carla Suárez Navarro and Angelique Kerber before losing to fellow Czech Petra Kvitová in two tie-breaking sets. As a consequence of this run, she broke into the world's top-20 for the first time in her career.

At the first Grand Slam of the year in Australia, Plíšková reached the third round before losing to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.

Plíšková made her debut for the Czech Republic Fed Cup team in the first round of the 2015 Fed Cup World Group in February, winning both of her rubbers against Françoise Abanda and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada to help the Czechs to a 4–0 win in Quebec.

As the 8th seed, Plíšková reached semifinal at Diamond Games Antwerp, before losing to eventual runner-up Carla Suárez Navarro. She then played at the 2015 Dubai Duty Free Championships and reached the final as the 17th seed, along the way beating number 4 seed Ana Ivanovic, fellow Czech Lucie Šafářová, and the rising Spaniard Garbiñe Muguruza. She lost in the final against the top seed Simona Halep.

Plíšková then played in Indian Wells, where she won a rematch with Muguruza in the third round before losing again to Halep. In Miami, Plíšková reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Andrea Petkovic.

Plíšková was the top seed in her home tournament in Prague. She reached the final by defeating Annika Beck, Tsvetana Pironkova, Denisa Allertová and Yanina Wickmayer, going to a third set in three of her four matches. In the final she defeated fellow Czech Lucie Hradecká in another three-set battle to claim her fourth WTA title.

At the Madrid Open she beat Sílvia Soler Espinosa in the first round, but lost to Caroline Garcia in the second. At the Rome Open she lost in the first round to Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets. She lost in the second round of French Open as 12th seed to unseeded Andreea Mitu in straight sets after beating Shuai Zhang in the first round.

She reached another final at Aegon Classic, losing to Angelique Kerber in three sets. She lost to Agnieszka Radwańska at Aegon International in the third round. At Wimbledon, Pliskova defeated Irina Falconi in three sets before losing to Coco Vandeweghe in the second round.

She made another final at Stanford Classic, losing once again to Angelique Kerber.Pliskova lost in the first round at Rogers Cup to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni and in the third round of the Western & Southern Open to Jelena Janković and reached the quarterfinals of the Connecticut Open, losing to Lesia Tsurenko. Seeded 8th at the US Open, Pliskova suffered a shocking loss to Anna Tatishvili in the first round.

She made another two quarterfinals at Toray Pan Pacific Open and Wuhan Open, losing to Agnieszka Radwańska and Roberta Vinci respectively, but lost in the first round of China Open to Sloane Stephens in straight sets. Her next tournament was the Tianjin Open where she reached the semifinals, losing to Radwańska for the third time in 2015. She lost in second round of the Kremlin Cup to Anastasija Sevastova.

She reached a tour-leading sixth final at the WTA Elite Trophy but lost to Venus Williams in straight sets. She ended the year ranked No. 11 in singles and was the 13th most popular player of the year according to the WTA's website. Pliskova played as Czech No.2 in the Fed Cup Final, losing to Maria Sharapova on Saturday. The following day, she defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in singles and won the deciding doubles rubber with Barbora Strýcová, against Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina, to win her first Fed Cup title.

2016: First Premier 5 title, US Open runner-up and Top 5

Plíšková began her season at the 2016 Hopman Cup, where she partnered with Jiří Veselý to represent the Czech Republic. She recorded singles wins over Jarmila Wolfe and Victoria Duval.

She reached quarterfinals in Sydney by defeating Ana Ivanovic and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, both in straight sets, but lost to World no.2 Simona Halep in straight sets. At the 2016 Australian Open, Plíšková defeated Kimberly Birrell and Julia Görges (both in straight sets) in the first two rounds. However, she again lost to Makarova, who defeated her at the same tournament and same round at last year's Australian Open. After the tournament, she competed at Fed Cup and earned important wins over Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu in Czech Republic's tie against Romania.

Her next tournament was the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was defending last year's points as a finalist; however, she fell to Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets. Struggles continued as she lost to Margarita Gasparyan in the first round of the Qatar Open.

After receiving a first round bye in Indian Wells, Pliskova defeated Shelby Rogers and Ana Ivanovic, both in straight sets. She then defeated Johanna Konta in three sets and earned another straight sets win over rising star Daria Kasatkina, before losing in three sets to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka. Despite her good campaign in Indian Wells, Pliskova lost in the second round of the Miami Open to Timea Babos after another first round bye.

Plíšková opened her clay court season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She defeated the 2015 French Open finalist Lucie Šafářová in the first round in three sets and Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. However, she would fall to the 1st seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the third round. She next competed at the Prague Open. She cruised by Stefanie Vögele, Kateřina Siniaková, and Camila Giorgi in the first three rounds. However, she would lose in straight sets to Lucie Šafářová in the semifinals. Plíšková lost in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open to Madison Keys in straight sets and fell in the first round of the Italian Open to Daria Kasatkina. Her clay court season would come to a disappointing end as she would lose to the 108th ranked player in the world, Shelby Rogers in the first round of the French Open.

Plíšková won her first title of the year at the 2016 Aegon Open. After a three set match with Anastasija Sevastova in the first round, she cruised to the final and beat Alison Riske for her first grass title. She then lost in the first round of the Birmingham Classic to fellow Czech Barbora Strýcová and reached the final of the Eastbourne International where she lost to Dominika Cibulková. At Wimbledon, Pliskova beat Yanina Wickmayer in three sets before losing to Misaki Doi in the second round.

Pliskova began her hardcourt season at the Rogers Cup, where she beat Kateryna Bondarenko and Sara Errani (who had to withdraw from the match) before losing in straight sets to eventual champion Simona Halep. She then pulled out of the Olympics. Pliskova won her maiden WTA Premier tournament at the Western & Southern Open, defeating Germany's Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the final. Her victory denied Kerber the opportunity to take over the world #1 ranking from Serena Williams and enabled Williams to tie Steffi Graf's record of 186 consecutive weeks at #1.[8] At the US Open, Pliskova beat wildcard Sofia Kenin, qualifier Montserrat González and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to her first Grand Slam Round of 16, where she defeated No. 6 seed and two-time champion Venus Williams in three sets and ensured her first ever major quarterfinal where she faced Ana Konjuh.[9] She beat the Croatian in straight sets and reached her first Major semifinal, where she beat Serena Williams in straight sets to reach the final, where Serena Williams was attempting to vie her seventh US Open title. In the final, she lost to incoming No. 1 Angelique Kerber, despite winning the second set and being 3–1 up in the final set.

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF R# RR Q# A NH
(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; or (NH) tournament not held.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended.
Current through 2016 US Open.
Tournament2010201120122013201420152016SR W–L
Australian Open A Q1 Q1 1R 2R 3R 3R 0 / 4 5–4
French Open A Q2 1R 1R 2R 2R 1R 0 / 5 2–5
Wimbledon Q1 A 1R 2R 2R 2R 2R 0 / 5 4–5
US Open Q1 Q1 Q2 1R 3R 1R F 0 / 4 8–4
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–2 1–4 5–4 4–4 9–4 0 / 18 19–18

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent in final Score in final
Runner-up 2016 US Open Hard Germany Angelique Kerber 3–6, 6–4, 4–6

References

  1. ↑ Karolína Plíšková at the Fed Cup
  2. ↑ Quayle, Emma (29 January 2010). "Another sister act". The Age. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
  3. ↑ Rossingh, Danielle (8 September 2016). "US Open: Serena Williams beaten by Karolina Pliskova, part of tennis' new sister act". CNN. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  4. ↑ Jaroch, Jan (23 September 2014). "Rozjetá Plíšková září: Trenér mi psal, jestli jsem se nezbláznila". Blesk (in Czech). Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Karolina Pliskova parts with coach Jiri Vanek - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  6. ↑ "Stats Corner: Twins Make History In Linz". Women's Tennis Association. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "10 things about Pliskova and her breakthrough". tennisnow.com. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  8. ↑ "Can Kerber Overtake Serena At US Open?". Women's Tennis Association. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "Pliskova ousts Venus in three-set thriller". USOpen.org. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
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Sporting positions
Preceded by
United States Serena Williams		 US Open Series Champion
2015 		Succeeded by
Poland Agnieszka Radwańska
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