Despite Doha being in the desert, the Qatar Total Open turned out to be an extremely rainy tournament, but fortunately the organizers managed to finalize it on time and Karolina Pliskova lifted the champion’s trophy at the end of the wet week, beating Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-4 in the title match.
The second-seeded Pliskova served just four aces in the final, compared to her astonishing 21 against Dominika Cibulkova in the semis, but the Czech’s performance behind her serve was still as strong as her 15-1 win-loss record in 2017 suggests and the Dane had no weapons to disrupt the Czech’s game. Note that Pliskova’s head-to-head record against her last two opponents had been 0-3 prior to Doha.
The world No.3 Pliskova raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening set and after Wozniacki responded with three straight games of her own, the Czech regrouped to reel off the next two games and clinch the set. In the tightly-contested second set, Pliskova firmly held on to her serve and stepped up her level as the match wore on, concluding the final by breaking Wozniacki with an aggressive return game.
The 24-year-old Pliskova won her eighth career title and second this year, after beating Alize Cornet in the Brisbane International final in January. (photo: Jimmie48)
She deserves it! I’ll be surprised if Kaja will not win any slams this year. She deserves it!