Karolina Pliskova became AEGON International champion for the first time with a 6-4 6-4 victory over 2009 champion Caroline Wozniacki.
In their sixth meeting it was Wozniacki who started the more confident as her big serves and massive ball striking lead her to hold comfortably and have confidence on the Pliskova serve. However after four games there were no rewards as Pliskova’s delicate touch at the net was too good as the set was level at 2-2. Pliskova’s big hitting caused unforced errors for Wozniacki as the Czech Republican grabbed the first break of the final for a 3-2 lead. Pliskova continued to hit inside-out forehands and move the Dane around the court to consolidate the break for a 4-2 lead. Pliskova continued to come to the net, therefore making Wozniacki’s life harder. The world number three served the set out to grab the opener 6-4.
Wozniacki started to vary her serve which came to some reward as she held her first two service games for a 2-1 lead. Wozniacki was rewarded with her good serving by having break point opportunities in the fifth game on the Pliskova serve as she ramped up the pressure. However it came to no reward as Pliskova held on for 3-3 in the second set. Despite the pressure created from the 2009 Eastbourne champion she was starting to become frustrated and seemed mentally tired. Three unforced errors from Wozniacki lead to three break points for the third seed. On the third break point Pliskova produced a stunning forehand down the line to get the crucial lead at 5-4. Despite the Wozniacki pressure, this was Pliskova’s title serving two aces in the final game she roared to a 6-4 6-4 victory in just over 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The victory meant it was Pliskova’s third title in her third final in 2017, it also means that she is 180 points within the World number one. She will now be the favourite for the title at Wimbledon next week. For Wozniacki she was mentally tired today and shouldn’t be too disappointed with her efforts today.
After the match Pliskova played down her chances of Wimbledon ‘Obviously it will be very tough to win it but I will try my best as its never easy.’
