Karolína Plíšková

Karolína Plíšková (born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player.

As a junior, Plíšková won the girls' singles event at the 2010 Australian Open.

She has also played for the Czech Republic in Fed Cup competition.

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.

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.

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 the American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, defeating her in three sets.

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

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 number 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.

A third overall title (and second of the year) in Linz ensured Plíšková finished the year ranked world No. 24.

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 of Italy.

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 24.

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 Apia International Sydney, 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 Grand Slam event of the year in Australia, Plíšková reached the third round before losing to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.

She made her debut for the Czech Republic Fed Cup 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 semifinal at Diamond Games Antwerp, before losing to eventual runner-up Carla Suárez Navarro.

She then played at the 2015 Dubai Duty Free 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 the 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.

On 31 October 2016, she peaked at world No. 11 in the doubles rankings.

Known for her powerful serve and forehand, Plíšková has won 17 singles and five doubles titles on the WTA tour, 10 singles and six doubles titles on the ITF Circuit, and over $25 million in prize money.

She has reached two Grand Slam singles finals at the 2016 US Open and the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.

She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the position for eight weeks.

In 2018, she married Michal Hrdlička and subsequently changed her name to Karolína Hrdličková.

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