Karolina Pliskova Reaches A Milestone in her Tennis Career

22-year-old Tennis sensation Karolina Pliskova reached a milestone in her career when she won for the third time at the Dubai Open. She became the youngest player in the World's Top 20 Tennis Players.

According to an online report by The Daily Star, she will now compete in the final against top seed Simona Halep, who recovered from a set down to see off Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Having already ousted two seeded players, Pliskova followed it with a nerve-shredding 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory over Garbine Muguruza, an elegantly gifted 21-year-old from Barcelona, and snatched a memorable win just as her chances seemed to be fading.

Pliskova always had the steeper more dangerous serve, and her 13 aces extended her year's total to 145, the most on the WTA Tour. But there were phases near the end when it seemed that might not be enough.

She had to save two break points at 3-4 in the final set, holding serve with the help of a video review which showed she had landed another ace, and then slipped to love-40 when she was trying to close the match at 6-5.

"I felt tired so I wasn't expecting it," said Pliskova, who could rise to a career-high of world No. 12 irrespective of the final results.

"We both have great serves so it doesn't matter if you go love 30 or love 40 down."

Muguruza made better progress in the second set, earning in the sixth game four break points, none of which she was able to convert, and getting one set point in the ninth game. That chance also eluded her.

But Pliskova delivered a double fault at the start of the 10th game and then another to concede the set, and for a while afterward it seemed that Muguruza might be the more likely winner.

She could not force home her best chance though, allowing the Czech to go through to her first 500 level tournament final, against either Simona Halep, the top-seeded Rumanian, or Caroline Wozniacki, the former world No. 1 from Denmark.