‘I’m happy it went my way’ – Karolina Pliskova comes through WTA Finals thriller

Karolina Pliskova fought past Garbine Muguruza to earn her first win at the WTA Finals and extend her impressive record against the Spaniard.

The Czech star, who is making her fifth appearance at the prestigious event, battled past the two-time Grand Slam champion 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) in two hours and 28 minutes.

Wednesday night’s duel was the 11th career meeting between the pair, with Pliskova now winning more matches against the Spaniard than any other player with nine wins.

“The first set was not the best from me. The serve was amazing in the second set, many free points on the first serve,” Pliskova said.

“Then it was a fighting third set. I thought I just had too many chances, didn’t make it really, but happy it went my way in the end.”

The Wimbledon finalist also placed huge importance on winning the opening round fixture at the WTA Finals.

“Honestly I think it’s huge because you can relax a bit more. It’s not like you can lose the next match. Of course, nobody wants to lose any match.

“But it’s like, okay, you have at least that one win, there’s not such a pressure that you need to win every other match,” she explained.

“If I just lose this match tonight, I think I’m gone because it was big, having couple match points, break points there, I was so close to making it even before the tiebreak. Then, of course, I was quite close to also losing it.”

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