(FILA Luxembourg S.à r.l.) - FILA sponsored tennis player Karolina Pliskova captured her 13th career singles title Sunday in Rome after she defeated Johanna Konta 6-3 6-4 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Pliskova overcame gritty opponents early in the tournament, defeating Ajla Tomljanovic and Sofia Kenin before avenging her recent Stuttgart loss to Victoria Azarenka in a three-set thriller in the quarterfinals. Pliskova maintained her impressive strength deep into the tournament, as she took out Maria Sakkari in the semifinals en route her sixth meeting with Konta in the final.
"It feels great, especially since nobody really gave me a chance for this tournament...I was just happy with every match I played,” said Pliskova of her week in Italy.
With the win, Pliskova becomes the first Czech woman to win in Rome since 1978, and and positions herself as the No. 2 player in the world heading into this year's second Grand Slam in Paris.
In the doubles draw, FILA sponsored tennis player Ashleigh Barty and partner Victoria Azarenka captured the ladies doubles title, defeating Demi Schuurs and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 4-6, 6-0, 10-3. The doubles title is Barty’s 10th in her young career, and the first with Azarenka.
After the match Barty said, “there were ebbs and flows a little bit, a few momentum changes in the match, but I think that the way we started the second set in particular, we were able to keep the foot down, keep the momentum going through the tiebreaker as well.” This is Barty’s second consecutive doubles title in Rome (2018 title with Schuurs).