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The 37-year-old Williams is making her first
appearance since 2009 at the elite eight-woman event but her
Czech opponent hit the ground running and never looked back
after she broke the American's serve early in the first set of
the group match.
The strategy was pretty much established in the opening game,
with Williams, the 2008 champion, looking to come to the net
whenever possible, while Pliskova was happy to rely on her
powerful groundstrokes from the baseline.
Pliskova found her range immediately for a routine hold in the
first game but Williams struggled when it was her turn to serve
as the Czech capitalized on some sloppy play from the American
to break with a booming forehand.
A flustered Williams settled in the fourth game to finally get
on the scoreboard with a second ace of the match and, after the
pair exchanged breaks, Pliskova moved 5-2 ahead with a sumptuous
volley after working the American around the court.
Another double fault gave the world number three her first set
point and she duly wrapped up the opener in 32 minutes when
Williams went long with an errant backhand.
"I think my serve was pretty good today but the scoreline makes
it look easier than it was," Pliskova said in a courtside
interview.
The second set began with both players holding comfortably
before Pliskova edged ahead in a pivotal third game when she
fended off two break points with a brilliant volley and an ace
before sending down two more huge serves to stay in control.
Williams was now struggling for both range and control and
Pliskova, buoyed up by the tough hold in the previous game,
pounced on another poor sequence of points from her opponent to
break again and surge clear.
Pliskova held to love for a 5-2 lead before a big forehand
winner brought up three match points and, while Williams played
her best tennis of the match to stave them off, a wayward
backhand on the fourth gifted her opponent victory in just 74
minutes.
"There are no easy matches in Singapore so you have to be ready
from the first point. That's what I was trying to do today and
it worked," Pliskova added.
Spanish second seed Garbine Muguruza will face French Open
champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the second White Group
round-robin match of the day later on Sunday.
The Red Group contains world number one Simona Halep of Romania,
Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, Dane Caroline Wozniacki and
Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, with the first matches in that pool
taking place on Monday.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
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