Karolina Pliskova has qualified for her second consecutive WTA Finals in Singapore. The former world number one is one of six women in the field, joining the likes of Garbiñe Muguruza, Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina, Venus Williams, and Caroline Wozniacki. The Czech is looking to better her round-robin performance from last year.

Sizzling Starts

It was the dream start for the Czech, starting her season with a title in Brisbane, one of the biggest warm-ups leading into the Australian Open. Her only tough challenge came against Roberta Vinci as she rolled Elina Svitolina and then Alizé Cornet en route to the title. 

Her run at the Australian Open came to a shocking end at the hands of veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the quarterfinals just two rounds after escaping a thriller against Jelena Ostapenko. She went on to claim her second title of the year in Doha after seeing out Wozniacki in the final.

Dubai was her only poor result of the first three months, losing in her opening match. However, she went on to back-to-back semifinals in Indian Wells and Miami before getting ousted by Svetlana Kuznetsova and Wozniacki respectively.

Clay Court Blues

Clay is arguably Pliskova's weakest surface and her clay court season definitely showed it. She won multiple matches just once before the French Open, coming in Rome where she was eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Svitolina. 

Despite the not so stellar lead-up results, she heavily exceeded expectations by making the French Open semifinal and even took a set off of Halep in the process. 

Class on Grass?

Pliskova's big game suits her the best on grass, and it came to no surprise seeing her lift up a grass court title in Eastbourne. She took out a familiar seasonal foe in Wozniacki in the final. Despite that, her Wimbledon result was less than stellar much to the shock of everyone as she was stunned by Magdalena Rybarikova in the second round. 

Pliskova with her title in Eastbourne (Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)
Pliskova with her title in Eastbourne (Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)

Consistent Hard Court Season

The Czech has yet to win a title since Eastbourne but she's shown her consistency on the hard courts. In the North American hard court season, she made two quarterfinals and a semifinal. So far in Asia, she has back-to-back quarterfinals.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Noel John Alberto
Filipino-American sports journalist from Toms River, NJ. UMBC Graduate and aspiring physical therapist. Tennis editor and multi-sport coordinator for VAVEL USA. Writer for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Serie A sections of VAVEL UK. Sports aficionado. Host of the On The Line tennis podcast.