Rallying from 6-4 5-3 down, only one game from defeat, Karolina Pliskova battled back to defeat Lesia Tsurenko 4-6 7-5 6-2 and clinch her second Brisbane title, her 12th overall. She defeated Yulia Putintseva, Marie Bouzkova, Ajla Tomljanovic and Donna Vekic en route to the final.
The first time Pliskova won the Brisbane title in 2016, she went on to make the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Hopefully for her, she’ll best that performance this year.
Her opponent in the final, Lesia Tsurenko caused a huge upset ousting US Open champion Naomi Osaka 6-2 6-4 in the semifinals. Despite her loss, the Japanese will return to her career-high number 4 ranking.
Elina Svitolina was the defending champion, but lost to Aliaksandra Sasnovich – in a repeat of last year’s final – in the second round.
Photo credit: Andrew Robertson
From Rafael Nadal to Victoria Azarenka to Andy Roddick, all players praised the retiring Kim Clijsters for her behaviour both on and off the court. Here’s a small sampling of their tweets:
