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Thank you for following along here on VAVEL! The recap of the match will be up shortly. This is Don Han saying so long, and see you again! Thank you!

Pliskova hit 30 winners in just 66 minutes, averaging a winner every 2.2 minutes. The first set was just perfect by Pliskova, as she hit 12 winners and just made a total of 2 unforced errors. 

Pliskova was clinical on her serve today, having won 90% of first service points. In the first set, Pliskova won all her first service points and just conceeded two points on her serve in the first set. 

Nevertheless, it was a fabulous tournament for Alize Cornet as it was already impressive enough to reach the final for anyone. 

Great debut tournament for Pliskova's coach David Kotyza, who wins their first title together as a pair in their first tournament. 

Game, set and match Karolina Pliskova. Amazing performance from her, and she closes it out 6-0, 6-3 in an hour and six minutes

40-Ad: Pliskova hits an amazing drop shot winner out of nowhere! Match Point #2

40-40: Pliskova gets back to deuce!

Ad-40: Fabulous tennis from Cornet! Amazing defense from Cornet who eventually wins the point after she hit a winner off a dropshot

40-40: Pliskova nets a backhand on match point!

30-40: Excellent return and a forced error by Cornet was enough to earn Pliskova a match point!

30-30: Another backhand winner from Pliskova makes her 2 points away from victory! The 28th winner from her in the match!

30-15: Glorious backhand winner by Pliskova

30-0: A very well-executed dropshot winner by Cornet

15-0: Strong serve which landed on the line was enough to win the point for Cornet

Pliskova 6-0, 5-3* Cornet. One game away from her seventh career title for the Czech!

40-30: Cornet misses a perfect chance to earn a break point as she nets a backhand slice!

30-30: Great return by the Frenchwoman to allow her to be on the offense and win the point

30-15: A wide backhand by Cornet

15-15: Cornet wins her first point of the game, hoping to get a break back!

15-0: Pliskova starts the game perfectly with a strong serve and a good follow through

Pliskova 6-0, *4-3 Cornet after Cornet hits her first ace in the match!

40-15: Pliskova nets a backhand while bending her knees to hit it!

30-15: A double fault by Cornet follows

30-0: Cornet hits another strong serve in!

15-0: Cornet hits a strong serve that was just in and Pliskova was unable to get the return in!

Pliskova 6-0, 4-2* Cornet after Cornet hits a return long

40-15: Ace!

30-15: Pliskova hits a big forehand winner

15-15: Pliskova nets a backhand

15-0: A backhand that was seemingly going out just lands it for Pliskova!

Pliskova 6-0, *3-2 Cornet. Pliskova sails a backhand wide and Cornet is hanging on in the match!

Ad-40: A superb one-two punch from Cornet!

40-40: A forehand unforced error from Cornet

Ad-40: Pliskova hits an unforced error

40-40: Cornet hits a forehand into the net 

40-30: A strong serve with a good follow-up gives Cornet game point!

30-30: A well-executed dropshot by Cornet, which was returned wide by the Czech

15-30: A return sailed long for Pliskova

0-30: Cornet hits a double fault

0-15: Pliskova hits an incredible running passing shot!

Pliskova 6-0, 3-1* Cornet. Cornet hits a backhand well wide and Pliskova holds serve

Ad-40: Ace!

40-40: A backhand sails long for Pliskova

Ad-40: Pliskova comes up with her strong serve at the crucial moment!

40-40: Pliskova misses a backhand down-the-line

Ad-40: Pliskova comes up with some excellent net play!

40-40: Cornet wins her first point on the first service return!

40-30: Cornet misses a dropshot attempt

30-30: Cornet fails to return a strong first serve

15-30: Pliskova fails a forehand down-the-line attempt

15-15: Pliskova hits a forehand just long, just her 5th unforced error

15-0: Pliskova manages to hit a forehand winner into the corner

Pliskova 6-0, *2-1 Cornet. Pliskova breaks after Cornet fails to find her first service yet again

0-40: Pliskova hits a strong return and Cornet was unable to return that!

0-30: Pliskova hits a return winner off a second serve!

0-15: Pliskova gets on the offense and wins the point

Pliskova 6-0, 1-1* Cornet. Pliskova closes the game out with an ace!

Ad-40: Pliskova finally hits a first serve in after she hit 2 straight lets on her first serve

40-40: Pliskova nets a backhand and it is deuce!

40-30: Cornet hits it long again! 

30-30: Cornet hits a second serve return long

15-30: An unreturnable serve gives Pliskova a way back into the game

0-30: Pliskova hits a backhand long 

0-15: Cornet hits a second serve return winner!

Pliskova 6-0, *0-1 Cornet. Cornet finally gets on the scoreboard after she took advantage of a Pliskova netcord that went in favour of her!

40-30: A lengthy baseline rally ends with a Pliskova backhand unforced error which just landed wide!

30-30: A backhand error off the return gives Cornet the point

15-30: Cornet hits a forehand long

15-15: Cornet hits a double fault, first of the match. 

15-0: Great start to the second set with a strong serve and a good follow-up for Cornet!

Very disappointing set from Cornet, who failed to really trouble Pliskova. 

Pliskova 6-0 Cornet after just 19 minutes! Strong serve with a good follow-up! Cornet struggling to return the Pliskova serve

40-30: Cornet hits a backhand just long and it is a set point!

30-30: Pliskova hits a 163 km/h ace down the tee, which was on the line, confirmed after a challenge!

15-30: Cornet manages to overpower Pliskova, who was at the net

15-15: Cornet wins her first point on Pliskova's serve!

15-0: Pliskova just toying with Cornet here with her offensive tennis

Gustafsson telling Cornet to take her chances, and be more offensive

Pliskova *5-0 Cornet! An amazing return winner and it is another break! Cornet has requested to see her coach Robert Gustafsson

0-40: Cornet hits another backhand long and it is triple break point!

0-30: Cornet hits a backhand unforced error

0-15: Some strong net play from Pliskova wins her the point!

Pliskova 4-0* Cornet! The Czech has not lost a point behind her serve yet!

40-0: Pliskova hits a smash winner!

30-0: Ace once again!

15-0: Cornet hits a second serve return just long

Pliskova *3-0 Cornet after an incredible start from Pliskova who has a double break lead now!

30-40: Strong offensive play from Cornet saves her the 2nd break point!

15-40: Cornet saves the first break point!

0-40: A strong forehand from Pliskova forces an error out from Cornet

0-30: Pliskova hits yet another forehand winner on a baseline rally!

0-15: Pliskova hits a superb forehand winner!

Pliskova 2-0* Cornet after Pliskova hit an unreturnable serve!

40-0 Pliskova hits a second consecutive ace!

30-0: Pliskova hits a 179 km/h ace!

15-0: Pliskova forces out an error from Cornet

Pliskova *1-0 Cornet after another forehand goes long

15-40: A third forehand goes long for the Frenchwoman and it is 2 break points!

15-30: Cornet hits another forehand long

15-15: A backhand down-the-line attempt goes wrong for Pliskova

0-15: Cornet hits a forehand long

The match is going to start in a few moments, with Cornet serving

The umpire today would be Zhang Juan from China!

Alize Cornet would start the match serving as Pliskova elects to receive!

The weather is pretty decent, 25 degrees Celcius and not really strong wind! Perfect conditions for the match!

The players arrive on the court!

The match is going to start in 10 minutes, at 2:00 am ET, and 7pm local time. 

Meanwhile, Karolina Pliskova had been solid throughout the week, and is already tipped by many to win her first grand slam title at the Australian Open considering her good form. However, she has never passed the third round in Melbourne. She has recently broken the duck when she finally got to the second week of a grand slam for the first time in her career at the US Open, where she unexpectedly stormed to the final but lost to Angelique Kerber in three sets despite having a break in the final set. 

Pliskova responds to a question about her preparation for the Australian Open, "Definitely a good start. Doesn't matter how I'm playing. Still not 100% good tennis, but I'm winning. So far it's okay. I still have a chance to improve in the next match." The Czech added, "Every match is good. I just, you know, want to play better and better."

Cornet in response to being seeded at the Australian Open, "I have no idea. Actually, I just read it on Twitter, like, 30 minutes ago, but I had no idea that I would be seeded. The ranking doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm just trying to play my game and give my best on every matches. I really try to take this from the ranking now."

Apparently, Cornet did not realize she has played Pliskova before as she responded with, "Oh, yeah? I have played Pliskova once in my life?" to a question about her winning record against Pliskova. Cornet leads their head-to-head by 1-0. 

It has truly been a magical tournament for Alize Cornet, who certainly did not expect that she would be able to get this far into the tournament. Let's take a look at what she thinks of her opponent today, Karolina Pliskova.  "(She has a) huge serve, huge strokes, maybe moves a little bit less well, but she's very efficient on her attack shots. She's coming in very fast during the point."

"I will take a look a little bit at the match, see how it goes, and then prepare my final. But I think I have to stay focused on myself and on what I did 
good for the whole week." Cornet added in her post-match conference after Garbine Muguruza retired in their semifinal match. 

Hello! Welcome to the LIVE commentary of the Brisbane International women's singles final between Alize Cornet and Karolina Pliskova! Once again, I'm Don Han, and I'll be bringing to you live point-by-point coverage of the final!

If you missed out on any action from Alize Cornet by VAVEL at the Brisbane International, you can find it here!
Alize Cornet - Elena Vesnina
Alize Cornet - Christina McHale
Alize Cornet - Dominika Cibulkova
Alize Cornet - Garbine Muguruza

If you have missed any action from Karolina Pliskova by VAVEL in the past few days, you can find it here!
Karolina Pliskova - Yulia Putintseva
Karolina Pliskova - Asia Muhammad
Karolina Pliskova - Roberta Vinci
Karolina Pliskova - Elina Svitolina

Whereas, Cornet spent a much longer duration on court with an average of 97.25 minutes per match despite the fact that her match against Muguruza took only 28 minutes due to the Spaniard's retirement.

Pliskova spent an average 77.75 minutes on court for every match she played, which is considered relatively short for a tennis match. This number showed that it was a pretty smooth-sailing draw for Pliskova, who generally did not face much problems throughout the week.

Finally, let’s take a look at all the matches the players has played in their path to the final here.
[3] Karolina Pliskova d. Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-1 in 62 minutes
[3] Karolina Pliskova d. [Q] Asia Muhammad 6-1, 6-4 in 74 minutes
[3] Karolina Pliskova d. [8] Roberta Vinci 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 111 minutes
[3] Karolina Pliskova d. [6] Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4 in 64 minutes
Alize Cornet d. [7] Elena Vesnina 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in 157 minutes
Alize Cornet d. Christina McHale 6-2, 6-1 in 81 minutes
Alize Cornet d. [2] Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 7-5 in 123 minutes
Alize Cornet d. [4] Garbine Muguruza 4-1 retired in 28 minutes

With both players looking on great form, it would be hard to choose a winner from either of them as both has the weapons to be victorious in this match. It would definitely be a close match as both players would want to get their hands on the title that so many was unable to win to have the best possible start to the new season.

Let’s take a throwback to last year’s US Open and view a recap of Pliskova’s match against Serena Williams and the recap of her match against Venus Williams, which were both written at VAVEL USA. 

With a win in the final, Pliskova can also return to the top five in the rankings, which would give a push in her way to the top of the rankings. Pliskova now stands as a heavy favourite for the upcoming Australian Open, after her impressive run here and the level of her tennis currently. As Pliskova has said herself, “I can beat 99% of all the players when I’m at my best.”  She proved to everyone that she can be one of the best of all the current players when she won the Cincinnati Masters and reached the US Open final in a span of just four weeks. The run to the US Open also involved wins against both Serena Williams and Venus Williams and became one of the few women who has beaten both the Williams sisters in the same grand slam tournament.

The result in the final could certainly have an impact of the seedings at the Australian Open, with Alize Cornet already being assured of a seeding at the Australian Open, which could definitely help her in the draw. Cornet is currently at number 31 in the live rankings after this perfect start to the year and could rise as high as number 26 if she were to win the final. It would also be the first title for Cornet since last year’s title in Hobart, which also came in Australia. Also, it would be Cornet’s biggest title of her career as the biggest title of her career now are five international events that she won in a span of nine years.

Whereas, Pliskova had played what could arguably be her best tennis to reach the final here as her offensive style of tennis managed to overpower every opponent she faced and was looking very determined in all her matches.

It was a surprise that Cornet managed to reach the final here in Brisbane considering how packed the draw is, with five top 10 players being part of the field. Furthermore, her path to the finals included wins over three seeds, which was very impressive considering she already doubled the number of top 10 wins she gotten in 2016. The defensive play by Cornet here in Brisbane has been really helping her during matches as it often gave her the chance to turn defense into offense and turn the match into her favor.

The head-to-head record between these two players stands at 1-0 in the favor of Alize Cornet. That meeting was in 2013 at the Guangzhou International in which Cornet prevailed in straight sets after a tight first set which was decided in a tiebreak. At that time when the match occurred, Pliskova was ranked 70th in the world, as opposed to Cornet’s ranking of 29. It is a totally different case here as the Czech is now ranked in the top 10 at number six in the rankings, and Cornet falling to world number 41 in the rankings after many injury problems which troubled her over the past years.

Alize Cornet had a much tougher route to the final as she had to defeat three seeded players along the way. The former world number 11 had to make an incredible comeback against the seventh seed Elena Vesnina in the first round on the opening day of action, coming from 3-6, 1-4 down to triumph in three sets, eventually prevailing in a final set tiebreak with the final scoreline being 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Karolina Pliskova has recently been playing the best tennis of her career as she strolled to the final here in Brisbane, having just lost one single set which came against the crafty Italian in Roberta Vinci at the quarterfinals stage. Pliskova has a 6-10 record in WTA finals and would want to improve on that record with a win over the Frenchwoman in the final.

Karolina Pliskova and Alize Cornet would face off in the final of the Brisbane International after six days of thrilling and intense tennis in Brisbane. Both players are making their debut here in the Brisbane final, having not been able to reach further than the second round in their previous appearances here.

Welcome to live coverage of the Brisbane International final! My name is Don Han, and I am happy to be bringing you point-by-point coverage of the Brisbane International final here on VAVEL. From now until the match begins at 2:00 am ET, news and notes will be above to get you up to speed. Be sure to return at match time for point-by-point updates!

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About the author
Don Han
Don Han is a young tennis writer who aspires to be a full-time sports journalist in the future, supporting Russian players along the way.