Winning the most number of titles and reaching the highest number of finals this year on the WTA tour, world number two Karolina Pliskova has successfully booked her spot in the year-ending WTA Finals held in Shenzhen for the first time in its history.

A stellar season saw Pliskova rack up four titles, all at the Premier level and above. She started her year in style; lifting the trophy at the Brisbane International after ousting Lesia Tsurenko in three sets. A semifinal appearance at the Australian Open followed, making at least the quarterfinals in all her tournaments until March.

Her biggest clay-court title of her career came at the Internazionali BNL D'Italia, before winning her third title on a third surface at the Nature Valley International, where she beat Angelique Kerber in a one-sided final.

Pliskova's Shenzhen spot was confirmed after her title at the inaugural Zhengzhou Open, after a fantastic season which saw her reach 10 quarterfinals and five finals.

Karolina Pliskova prepares to serve | Photo: Clive Brunskill
Karolina Pliskova prepares to serve | Photo: Clive Brunskill

This will be Pliskova’s fourth consecutive appearance at the WTA Finals, after making her debut in 2016. She reached the semifinals in 2017 and 2018, but will be hoping to go one step further this year by making the final. The only other player who has qualified for the singles competition is world number one Ashleigh Barty, whom she will be competing with for the number one ranking within these couple of weeks.

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