Already in the quarterfinal stage of the Generali Ladies Linz Karolina Pliskova was the only seeded player and the Czech has marched all the way to the title, although not without having to face a match point in the final against Camila Giorgi, 6-7(4) 6-3 7-6(4).
The seventh-seeded Pliskova had raced to 5-1 in the third set before her fellow 22-year-old Giorgi won five straight games to lead 6-5 and in that game she even earned a match point. However, Pliskova held on to her service game and closed the deal in the tiebreak.
This is Pliskova’s third title, after Kuala Lumpur 2013 and Seoul 2014. En route to the €34,677 winner’s prize money, Pliskova defeated Kirsten Flipkens, Mona Barthel, Madison Brengle, Anna-Lena Friedsam and finally Giorgi.
Thanks to photographer Jimmie48 we got to see a lot of wonderful action shots and interesting viewpoints from the Linz International-level tournament.
At the other two WTA events held this week, top seed Samantha Stosur won her third title in Osaka, beating fifth seed Zarina Diyas 7-6(7) 6-3 in the final, while at the inaugural Tianjin Open, sixth seed Alison Riske won the clash of first-time finalists and beat third seed Belinda Bencic 6-3 6-4.
