Karolína Plíšková

Karolína Plíšková (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkaroliːna ˈpliːʃkovaː]; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the WTA, and at world No. 11 in doubles. She is a two-time Grand Slam finalist at the 2016 US Open and at 2021 Wimbledon. Plíšková has won 17 singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour,

As a junior, Plíšková won the 2010 Australian Open girls' singles title. Playing for the Czech Republic in Billie Jean King Cup competition, she has scored a win-loss record of 15–8 (as of September 2024). She is known for her powerful serve and forehand.

Personal life

Plíšková was born in Louny to Radek Plíšek and Martina Plíšková, and has an identical twin sister, Kristýna, who is two minutes older and is also a tennis player. She currently lives in Monte Carlo. In 2018, she married Michal Hrdlička and subsequently changed her name to Karolína Hrdličková (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkaroliːna ˈɦr̩dlitʃkovaː]).

Career

2010: Juniors

Karolína Plíšková won the Australian Open junior title, defeating Laura Robson in the girls' final.

2012: Major debut

Plíšková played her first senior Grand Slam tournament main draw at the 2012 French Open. To qualify, she defeated Dia Evtimova, Tamaryn Hendler and Laura Robson. She lost in the first round to world No. 8, Marion Bartoli, in straight sets.

2013: First WTA Tour title

Plíšková started the year in Brisbane International. She however lost to Olga Puchkova in the first round in two sets. Then in her next tournament in Sydney she qualified, beating Alexandra Panova, Irina Falconi and Estrella Cabeza Candela. In the first round she lost to the third seed, Sara Errani.

Plíšková won her maiden WTA Tour title at the Malaysian Open. She defeated several seeded players to reach the final against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, defeating her in three sets.

At the Generali Ladies Linz in October, Plíšková won her first career title in doubles alongside sister Kristýna, becoming the first set of twins in history to win a doubles title together on the tour.

2014: Breakthrough, two titles, top 25 debut

2014 was a breakthrough year for Plíšková. After consecutive second-round finishes in Auckland and at the Australian Open, she reached her second career WTA tour final in Pattaya City, defeating top-50 players Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sorana Cîrstea before losing to Ekaterina Makarova in the final. She then reached the third round of Indian Wells, the quarterfinals of the Monterrey Open and the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur between March and April. In May, she reached her third career final in Nuremberg, losing to second seed Eugenie Bouchard in three sets. She broke into the top-50 in July and defeated world No. 9, Ana Ivanovic, in the second round of the US Open. After playing in America, she reached two finals in two consecutive weeks – in Hong Kong, where she lost to Sabine Lisicki, and in Seoul, which she won, defeating Varvara Lepchenko in the final to take her second career title. In October, she won her third title and second of the year in Linz. As an alternate, Plíšková made a round-robin appearance at the season-closing Tournament of Champions, in lieu of top seed Ekaterina Makarova, losing her sole match against Flavia Pennetta.

After reaching five finals and winning two of them, and appearing to a broader public at the US Open with a big win over a former world No. 1, 2014 was a breakthrough year for Plíšková. She leaped from world No. 67 to No. 24.

2015: Top 10 debut

Plíšková began her year at the Brisbane International where she defeated former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion, Victoria Azarenka, in the first round before losing in the second. She reached her first WTA Premier-level final at the Sydney International defeating Carla Suárez Navarro and Angelique Kerber, before losing to fellow Czech, Petra Kvitová, in two tie-breaking sets. As a consequence of this run, she broke into the world's top 20 for the first time in her career.

At the first major event of the year in Australia, Plíšková reached the third round, before losing to Ekaterina Makarova.

She made her debut for the Czech team in the first round of the 2015 Fed Cup World Group in February, winning both of her rubbers against Françoise Abanda and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada to help the Czechs to a 4–0 win in Québec.

As the eighth seed, Plíšková reached semifinals at Antwerp, before losing to eventual runner-up Carla Suárez Navarro. She then played at the 2015 Dubai Championships and reached the final as the 17th seed, along the way beating No. 4 seed Ana Ivanovic, fellow Czech Lucie Šafářová, and the rising Spaniard Garbiñe Muguruza. She lost in the final against top seed Simona Halep.

Plíšková then played in Indian Wells where she won a rematch with Muguruza in the third round, before losing again to Halep. In Miami, Plíšková reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Andrea Petkovic. She was the top seed in her home tournament in Prague and reached the final by defeating Annika Beck, Tsvetana Pironkova, Denisa Allertová and Yanina Wickmayer, going to a third set in three of her four matches. In the final, she defeated fellow Czech Lucie Hradecká in another three-set battle to claim her fourth career title.

At the Madrid Open she beat Sílvia Soler Espinosa in the first round, but lost to Caroline Garcia in the second. At the Italian Open she lost in the first round to Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets. She lost in the second round of French Open as 12th seed to unseeded Andreea Mitu in straight sets after beating Zhang Shuai in the first round.

She reached another final at Birmingham Classic losing to Angelique Kerber, in three sets. She lost to Agnieszka Radwańska at the Eastbourne International in the third round. At Wimbledon, Plíšková defeated Irina Falconi in three sets before losing to CoCo Vandeweghe in the second round.

She made another final at Stanford Classic, losing once again to Angelique Kerber. Plíšková lost in the first round at Canadian Open to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni and in the third round of the Western & Southern Open to Jelena Janković and reached the quarterfinals of the Connecticut Open, losing to Lesia Tsurenko. Seeded eighth at the US Open, Plíšková suffered a shocking loss to Anna Tatishvili in the first round.

She made another two quarterfinals at Pan Pacific Open and Wuhan Open, losing to Agnieszka Radwańska and Roberta Vinci, respectively, but lost in the first round of China Open to Sloane Stephens, in straight sets. Her next tournament was the Tianjin Open where she reached the semifinals, losing to Radwańska for the third time in 2015. She lost in the second round of the Kremlin Cup to Anastasija Sevastova.

She reached a tour-leading sixth final at the WTA Elite Trophy but lost to Venus Williams in straight sets. She ended the year ranked No. 11 in singles and was the 13th most popular player of the year according to the WTA's website. Plíšková played as Czech No. 2 in the Fed Cup Finals, losing to Maria Sharapova on Saturday. The following day, she defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in singles and won the deciding doubles rubber with Barbora Strýcová, against Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina, to win her first Fed Cup title.

2016: US Open final, top 5, rise in doubles

Plíšková began her season at the 2016 Hopman Cup, where she partnered with Jiří Veselý to represent the Czech Republic. She recorded singles wins over Jarmila Wolfe and Victoria Duval.

She reached quarterfinals in Sydney by defeating Ana Ivanovic and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, both in straight sets, but lost to world No. 2, Simona Halep, in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Plíšková defeated Kimberly Birrell and Julia Görges (both in straight sets) in the first two rounds. However, she again lost to Makarova, who defeated her at the same round at last year's Australian Open. After the tournament, she competed in Fed Cup and earned important wins over Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu in Czech Republic's tie against Romania.

Her next tournament was the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was defending the previous year's points as a finalist; however, she fell to CoCo Vandeweghe, in straight sets. Struggles continued as she lost to Margarita Gasparyan in the first round of the Qatar Ladies Open.

After receiving a first-round bye in Indian Wells, Plíšková defeated Shelby Rogers and Ana Ivanovic, both in straight sets. She then defeated Johanna Konta in three sets and earned another straight sets win over rising star Daria Kasatkina, before losing in three sets to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka. Despite her good campaign in Indian Wells, Plíšková lost in the second round of the Miami Open to Tímea Babos after another first-round bye.