A ruthless Karolina Pliskova won all but five points in the first six games to set up a 6-0, 6-3 rout of Alize Cornet in the Brisbane International final last night, an ideal buildup to the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
The US Open finalist will return to a career-high No. 5 ranking for the Australian Open, which begins on Jan. 16, after winning her first Brisbane title and seventh on the WTA tour.
The first set lasted less than 20 minutes, with third-seeded Pliskova not dropping a point on serve until the last game. Cornet, who was unseeded and ranked No. 41, did not get on the scoreboard until she held to open the second set.
Photo: EPA
The 24-year-old Pliskova had a breakout season last year, reaching her first Grand Slam final — beating both Venus and Serena Williams before losing to Angelique Kerber at the US Open — and helping the Czech Republic win the Fed Cup.
On the men’s side, Milos Raonic’s title defense ended in a semi-final loss to Grigor Dimitrov earlier yesterday, a day after his come-from-behind win over Rafael Nadal.
Top-seeded Raonic beat Roger Federer for the title here last year, avenging a loss to the Swiss star in the 2015 final, and appeared to be on course for a third straight Brisbane final when he had set point in the first-set tiebreaker against Dimitrov.
Photo: EPA
However, the 25-year-old Bulgarian held firm, saving that set point, converting his own moments later and then breaking Raonic’s serve twice in the second set on the way to a 7-6 (7), 6-2 win.
Raonic did not blame the late finish on Friday against Nadal, or the tax that playing the 14-time Grand Slam winner took on his body, for his lapses yesterday.
Dimitrov “made it obviously very difficult [and] I didn’t turn around and bring the performance I needed to bring,” Raonic said. “I didn’t serve a high enough percentage. I was just a tidbit slow. He won over 80 percent of second-serve points, which is, for lack of a better word, pretty bad on my side.”
Photo: AP
Raonic made the semi-finals at the Australian Open last year, reached his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon and finished the year at No. 3 in the rankings, but he has not won a title since his success in Brisbane last year. He thinks his preparation can change that this year.
“I feel very good about it,” he said. “I’m on that right track — I feel like if I can avoid that hiccup, I can have a very, very good time in Melbourne.”
The No. 17-ranked Dimitrov improved his record to 3-1 in career meetings against Raonic and set up a final against Kei Nishikori, who beat US Open champion Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (3), 6-3 to reach the final for the first time at the season-opening tournament.
Photo: AFP
“Milos is one of the biggest servers out there. I knew what to expect,” Dimitrov said. “I felt everything went pretty well in the first set for me. And after that first break ... I felt mentally I was strong.”
Nishikori has a 3-0 record against Dimitrov, who lost the 2013 Brisbane final to Andy Murray and was ousted by Federer in his previous two trips to Brisbane.
Wawrinka, who won the Chennai tournament in India in the first week of the season for the three previous years, had treatment on his left ankle in the first and second sets but did not expect it to cause him any trouble at the Australian Open.
Third-seeded Nishikori took full advantage, converting his first break point in the second set to take a 3-1 lead when Wawrinka missed consecutive backhands. The No. 2-seeded Wawrinka broke back immediately, but dropped his serve again in the next game.
Wawrinka beat Nishikori in the semi-finals of the US Open last year; his only win in their past four matches. Now they are tied 4-4 in career meetings.
Nishikori was making his seventh trip to Brisbane, and playing a semi-final for the fourth time.
“I tried many times, and this is first time to get Sunday, so I’m really happy,” the 2014 US Open finalist said. “And especially beating Stan today, it was a good start of the year. Tomorrow it’s going to be maybe tougher match, but I look forward to playing the final.”
The Japanese star is still chasing his first Grand Slam title, with his best run at a major remaining his appearance in the 2014 US Open final.
HOPMAN CUP
AP, PERTH, Australia
Richard Gasquet saved a match point in the third-set tiebreaker and held on for a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6) win over American Jack Sock to give France the early lead in the Hopman Cup mixed teams final yesterday.
Sock broke Gasquet’s service in the 11th game of the deciding set, helped by Gasquet’s double-fault on break point, but Gasquet came back to break Sock in the next game and send it to a tiebreaker. The match lasted two-and-a-half hours.
Coco Vandeweghe was to attempt to keep the US side in the best-of-three match when she played Kristina Mladenovic of France. A potential deciding mixed doubles match was scheduled to follow.
The US has won the Hopman Cup a record six times in the tournament’s 28-year history.
Organizers announced earlier yesterday that the tournament would remain in the Western Australian state capital for at least the next five years. The state government extended its contract with the International Tennis Federation and Tennis Australia to host the exhibition event at Perth Arena until at least 2022.
ASB CLASSIC
AP, AUCKLAND, New Zealand
American Lauren Davis claimed the first WTA Title of her six-year professional career when she beat Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-1 in yesterday’s final of the ASB Classic.
The 23-year-old Ohio-born resident of Boca Raton ousted the tournament’s last surviving seed when she swept past the eighth-seeded Konjuh in 71 minutes.
Davis beat fifth-seeded Kiki Bertens, fourth-seeded Barbora Strycova and seventh-seeded Jelena Ostapenko on her way to the final, while Konjuh beat former champion Yanina Wickmayer and last year’s runner-up Julia Goerges.
“It’s definitely an incredible feeling winning my first WTA title,” Davis said.
“It’s definitely surreal. I’ve been waiting for this one for quite a few years. I had two finals last year and it was definitely discouraging and frustrating but third time’s a charm,” she said.
The tournament, which began with the most star-studded field in its history, ended with a final between players ranked 47th and 61st in the world.
Organizers attracted four former No. 1s, but of those Ana Ivanovic pulled out before the tournament began with an injury, Serena and Venus Williams — the top two seeds — were out by the second round and Caroline Wozniacki fell in the quarter-finals.
SHENZHEN OPEN
Reuters
Katerina Siniakova overcame a slow start to win her maiden WTA Tour title with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Alison Riske in the Shenzhen Open final yesterday.
The Czech world No. 52 had beaten top-10 players Simona Halep and Johanna Konta on her way to the final and fulfilled her promise as a junior with a first senior title after losing her two previous WTA finals in Bastad and Tokyo last year.
The 20-year-old Siniakova suffered an early break, but fought back against her US opponent by reeling off four straight games to take control of the opener before she broke twice in the second set on the way to a 78-minute triumph.
“It’s been a really great week for me and I’m so glad that I won this time because this match was really tough. I didn’t play my best but I’m really happy that I did it,” Siniakova said at the presentation.
“It’s a great start to the year for me. I hope my performance continues to go up and get better,” she said.
The 39th-ranked Riske lost her fourth final, including a third defeat in a title decider in China, as her wait for a first trophy since 2014 continues.
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