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EASTBOURNE, England – Karolina Pliskova is back into another English grass court final after coming back from a set down against Eastbourne resident Johanna Konta, ending the Brit’s hopes of reaching her first WTA final on home soil at the Aegon International.

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Two weeks ago in Nottingham, Pliskova rallied through rain delays to claim her fifth WTA title at the Aegon Open Nottingham. As the same pattern emerged in the seaside town of Eastbourne — where she once again had to play two matches on the same day — the No.17 Czech knew how to prepare.

“I’m just thinking I’m happy to be in the final tomorrow,” Pliskova said. “I’m thinking today, just stay focused and take one match at a time. And rest as much as possible between.”

Pliskova faced a monumental task against home favorite Konta. Though she trains in Spain, the British No.1 calls Eastbourne home, and all week long she enjoyed vocal support from the Devonshire Park crowd who wanted to see a local lift the trophy in her hometown.

“I tried to concentrate on my game and not about the people,” Pliskova acknowledged. “Of course they’re gonna support her. She’s the only one British here in the draw left, and it’s their British No. 1, yeah?”

“I don’t feel like it had any influence on me.”

Konta was well on her way to the final after coming away the winner of a deadlocked first set. Neither player faced a break point and punctuated their strong baseline game with skillful forays to the net, sending the opening set to a tiebreak. Despite Pliskova digging herself out of a 5-2 hole, it wasn’t enough to escape the on-form Konta, who floated a dropshot just out of Pliskova’s long reach to take the set 7-6(5).

Pliskova drew blood early in the second set, grabbing the first break of serve of the match to go up 3-1. Konta looked set to break right back – she climbed to a 0-40 lead – but took a tumble in the middle of the point. Though she wasn’t injured and didn’t call a trainer, the fall seemed to leave her rattled as Pliskova erased the break points to hold her serve.

“It was quite an aggressive fall the way it happened,” Konta said afterward. “It just — yeah, it rattled me a bit. It was a bit of a shock, nothing major happened. I just tend to cry when I get shocked.”

Konta appeared more composed toward the end of the set, but she just couldn’t recover in time and Pliskova took the second set 6-3.

The Czech started the final set with a double break, quickly climbing to a 3-0 lead. Despite Konta grabbing one of the breaks back, Pliskova held her lead and downed the Brit 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3 to reach her second WTA final of the year.

Pliskova is up against Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Aegon International, after the Slovak cruised against Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig.

#SAPStatOfTheDay: @KaPliskova has hit a #WTA-leading 310 aces in 2016! Third straight season hitting 300+ aces!! pic.twitter.com/VJbw17peS3

— WTA (@WTA) June 24, 2016

Can World No.1 Serena Williams find that Wimbledon magic and complete her quest to match Stefanie Graf’s Open Era record of 22 major titles? Will No.2 Garbiñe Muguruza set aside any French Open hangover to complete the Channel Slam? Or is there another champion lying in wait?

WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen is joined by Reem Abulleil, tennis reporter for Sport360.com, to dissect the draw and preview the third major of the year.

EASTBOURNE, England – Dominika Cibulkova rounded off a busy afternoon at the Aegon International Eastbourne by brushing aside Monica Puig to book her place in the final.

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Having begun the day with a stirring comeback win over top seed Agnieszka Radwanska, Cibulkova could have been forgiven for showing a few signs of physical and mental fatigue when she stepped back on court just a few hours later.

However, if the Slovak was feeling the effects of the backed-up scheduling, she hid it well, easing to a 6-2, 6-1 victory in little over an hour on court.

Peppering Puig’s baseline with her flat groundstrokes, Cibulkova threatened to break on a couple of occasions before finally striking in the sixth game, following up a well-disguised drop shot with a thumping forehand winner.

Desperately searching for a response to her opponent’s brilliance, Puig was forced out of her comfort zone, surrendering the set on the back of a couple of uncharacteristically errant backhands. 

The second set was even more one-sided, Cibulkova rattling off the final three games to reach her first grass court final. “I would say this is my best day on a grass court,” Cibulkova said afterwards. “I’m extremely happy – I’m playing so well. She was really tough to play against because she’s playing completely different tennis to Radwanska, she played well today but I was just better.”

On court, Cibulkova’s fiery style starved Puig the opportunity to find any rhythm. And a similarly frenetic approach served her well in dealing with the quick turnaround: “I stretched, went to the ice bath and then I had to warm up again. It was a really quick one!”

In the final, she will face Karolina Pliskova after she defeated home favorite Johanna Konta, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3.

And this is how I feel at @AegonTennisEB!!! ?????????????? ?????????? the best feeling!! pic.twitter.com/ghKKhCod2b

— Dominika Cibulkova (@Cibulkova) June 24, 2016

EASTBOURNE, England – Dominika Cibulkova produced a stirring comeback to defeat top seed Agnieszka Radwanska in their rain-delayed quarterfinals at the Aegon International Eastbourne.

Watch live action from Eastbourne this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

When the match was halted on Thursday afternoon, Radwanska had been in complete control, by a set and a break. However, on the resumption it was a different story, Cibulkova breaking back immediately as she went on to force a deciding set.

The Pole had her chances in the decider, holding points for a 3-1 lead, only for Cibulkova to come roaring back to win, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, and set up a meeting with Monica Puig.

“It was a very difficult match against Agnieszka and with all the different conditions,” Cibulkova said. “I was able to manage and play better every game with every stop we had I felt stronger.”

Also advancing to the semifinals were Karolina Pliskova, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over former champion Elena Vesnina, and Johanna Konta, who delighted the home crowd with a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory against Ekaterina Makarova.

Konta is bidding to become just the second British player to reach the final in the tournament’s 42-year history. However, the prospect of following in the footsteps of the great Virginia Wade – who won the title in 1975 and finished runner-up in 1974 and 1976 – did not appear to faze Konta against Makarova.

After falling behind early on, Konta drew herself level before overpowering Makarova in the first set tie-break. The second set was just as evenly contested, but once again it was Konta’s greater composure at the pivotal moments that determined the outcome.

At 4-4, Konta found the baseline with another pin-point return to bring up three points. She only needed the one, Makarova obligingly sending a forehand into the tramlines, before calmly serving out for a place in the last four.