Pliskova wins maiden title in Malaysia
Karolina Pliskova beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 to win Malaysian Open.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Karolina Pliskova shrugged off a first-set thrashing and a 40-minute rain delay to win her first WTA singles crown at the BMW Malaysian Open on Sunday.
The Czech, who was playing in her first WTA final, broke American wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands heart with a come-from-behind 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory in 106 minutes in Kuala Lumpur.
"I was a little nervous at the start and couldn t get my serves in. That contributed to the heavy loss," said Pliskova.
Mattek-Sands, fresh from victory with doubles partner Sania Mirza of India at last week s Dubai Duty Free
Championships, started strongly, breaking the world No. 197 Pliskova three times in the first set to close out an 18-minute 6-1 win.
Pliskova, 20, the 2010 Australian Open junior champion, upped her game in the second set, covering the court better and having success returning Mattek-Sands powerful groundstrokes.
Despite losing serve early on, she broke her opponent twice to win the set in 44 minutes.
"I woke up in the second set and began to serve better. This helped turn the tide.
The third set was even at 1-1 when rain disrupted play for 40 minutes, with Pliskova looking refreshed after the break and prevailing over Mattek-Sands to clinch the biggest payday of her career.
"It was a tough match but I m delighted to win my first singles title. I still can t believe it," she said.
The field was thrown open earlier in the week when top seed and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki -- suffering from a high temperature -- crashed out in the first round in a defeat to qualifier Wang Qiang of China.
Mattek-Sands, who has 12 doubles titles to her name at the age of 28, will now have to wait longer for a first singles crown.
"I m still happy with the way I played all week. I don t think the rain delay affected me at all. Just that she played very well," said Mattek-Sands.
"The beauty of tennis is that there is another tournament next week so I just have to pick myself up and get on with it."
