Karolina Pliskova joins Ashleigh Barty, Elina Svitolina and Belinda Bencic in the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen semifinals by winning a topsy-turvy round-robin match in the Purple Group against Simona Halep, 6-0 2-6 6-4.
Friday’s Pliskova vs. Halep encounter was quite strange. It opened with Pliskova winning the first six games. Then, after an early exchange of breaks in the second set, Halep won six games in a row to get the scoreline to 0-6 6-2 2-0. Pliskova responded with a series of five successive games, but was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 in the decider.