28 October 2019

Elina Svitolina wins brilliant tie-break on way to beating Karolina Pliskova in WTA Finals

Elina Svitolina won a sensational tiebreak as she defeated Karolina Pliskova in her opening match of the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.

The Ukrainian beat her Czech opponent 7-6(12) 6-4 for her first top five win of the year, as her solidity proved too much for the surprisingly error-prone Pliskova.

After a first set which she had to battle for almost every point, Svitolina showed why she is defending champion with a great display in the second to close out the match.

She is now unbeaten in six consecutive WTA Finals matches.

World number two Pliskova is one of the best returners in the world - winning 44% of her return points this year - and broke immediately to take advantage of some defensive play from the champion early on.

But Svitolina broke back thanks to a handful of errors from the Czech and the set remained on serve until the tiebreak.  

Shot after shot, point after point, the two players slugged it out in the tiebreak, with any set points being thwarted by either a miraculous rally or an error.

Over the course of the 26-point tiebreak, Pliskova saved six set points but could not save a seventh as her backhand went long.

Carrying on the momentum from the mammoth opening set, Svitolina produced a stunning second serve percentage of 70 compared to Pliskova's 33 as the Ukrainian broke in the opening game of the second set with her opponent looking leggy.

Pliskova called for her coach Conchita Martinez, who told her to hit more of her shots to Svitolina’s forehand, and that immediately paid dividends.

But she could not sustain her forehand brilliance for much longer as Svitolina broke once more and kept her break lead to go top of the Purple Group, which also includes Bianca Andreescu and Simona Halep.

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