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By Chris Oddo | Friday February 17, 2017

 
Karolina Pliskova

Karolina Pliskova survived double duty to reach her 18th career final at the Qatar Total Open in Doha.

Photo Source: WTA

The rain has wreaked havoc on the Qatar Total Open in Doha all week. So has Karolina Pliskova.

The 24-year-old World No.3 powered past China’s Zhang Shuai, 6-2, 6-0, in the quarterfinals before slugging her way past World No.5 Dominika Cibulkova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals to improve to 14-1 on the season.

“Really excited,” Pliskova said, after improving to 5-14 against Top 5 opponents. “Especially after today, it was a really tough day for me, and really long.”

Pliskova saved two break points at 3-all in the third set and ended up rallying to win the final three games to clinch her first career win over Cibulkova.

“Definitely it gave me a little bit more confidence,” said Pliskova, who added that switching sides to have the wind at her back in the final two games played a helpful role. “I knew I’d have a chance to break her, and I did,” she said.


Pliskova will face either Caroline Wozniacki or Monica Puig in the final. Puig picked up a rain-suspended quarterfinal with Daria Kasatkina and snatched the final two sets to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. The victory places Puig in a tour-level semifinal for the first time since her historic Olympic Gold medal.

Wozniacki struggled in brutal conditions but eventually solved American Lauren Davis, 7-5, 6-1.

Wozniacki will bid for her 43rd career final against Puig. Wozniacki leads the head-to-head 2-1 against the Puerto Rican, but all three of their previous meetings have gone three sets.

 

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