Pliskova into first Wimbledon final after win over number two seed

Karolina Pliskova said her ‘dream’ was to make the second week of Wimbledon after upsetting number two seed Aryna Sabalenka to reach the final.

Pliskova showed immense courage, talent and guts to come from a set down to beat the big-hitting Belarusian 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to set up her first Wimbledon final, where she will take on number one seed Ashleigh Barty.

Speaking after her win, the Czech player said: “I think still half like I can’t believe it because somehow, coming into this tournament, the dream was to make the second week, of course, because I was not in the second week for a while. Never I thought about maybe going into the final.”

The first set went with serve thanks to the dominance of both players on their own games, until at 6-5 Sabalenka broke Pliskova to take the set.

But although she lost the set, Pliskova was clearly growing into the match, holding her own serve with relative ease and threatening her opponent’s.

She duly took her first opportunity to break to go 3-2 up in the second set and, although she did not break again, held her nerve – and her serve, to prevail.

And the world number 13 broke again in the opening game of the final set, and was not broken herself for the remainder of the match – finishing it off with an ace.

She added: “Sascha (Bajin, her coach) was super confident in me. He said, I told you you were going to make the final. Like after the match he said.

“There are so many amazing players in the draw. Also, like her, I never beat her. Actually I knew it’s going to be like super close because we both serving big, so I knew there’s going to be, like, many small chances. Especially after losing the first set, I thought it was going to be super tough to win this match.

“Then to win two sets in a row with the way how she was serving today, I think she was serving incredible, all my chances she just put, like, amazing serves in.

“I’m super proud about the way I handled the situation out there, the second and third set, and that I served out the match.”

Pictured top: Karolina Pliskova in action (Picture: PA)