Karolina Pliskova beats Madison Keys to win third Brisbane International title

January 12, 2020

Czech Karolina Pliskova became the first player, man or woman, to win the Brisbane International tournament three times, successfully defending her title with a hard-earned 6-4 4-6 7-5 win over American Madison Keys.

The second-seeded Pliskova saved the first two break points of the match to hold and then broke at love before serving out the first set. The Ace Queen then jumped ahead with an early break in the second set, before Keys broke at love to level the score to 3-3 and proceeded to create a comeback similar to the one that propelled her into the decider in her semifinal victory over Czech Petra Kvitova.

In the crucial seventh game of the third set, Pliskova went from 15-40 to break Keys for a 4-3 lead and after consolidating it with a hold, the defending champion was a game away from the Premier-level title. However, the match went beyond two hours as the eighth-seeded Keys leveled at 5-5. In a deuce game, Pliskova earned another break and eventually served it out, winning ten of her last 12 WTA finals, a run that began when she won Brisbane in 2017.

During the week, the 27-year-old Pliskova hit 42 aces, second most at the tournament following Naomi Osaka’s 54, and will donate $8,400 to Australian bushfire relief.

Pliskova’s winning apparel: the Fila Fall Heritage Sleeveless Polo and Fila Fall Heritage Stripe Skirt.

Photographer Jimmie48 is bringing us photos from the singles final and trophy ceremony, as well as from the doubles final, in which top seeds Barbora Strycova and Hsieh Su-Wei defeated Ashleigh Barty and Kiki Bertens 3-6 7-6(6) 10-8.