But when serving at 5-3 with the set on her racket, Pliskova hit two backhand errors, and suddenly, it was 5-5. This year, the victory in Tianjin is not enough to put Garcia into a second consecutive final appearance.
This was the third final between No.1 and No.2 seeds in 2018, and the lower seeded player has always on the title, at Auckland and the Australian Open. Pliskova is scheduled to play in Moscow.
Garcia was down 1-5 in the first set tiebreaker before she rebounded. She saved a set point for Pliskova at 5-6 to go on to win the hour-long first set. Garcia intently came to the net but was unable to clinch the point despite three angled volleys as Pliskova counterattacked with deep forehand passing shots.
The two top seeds faced off in China but a tight opening set was followed by a dominant second from Garcia as she ran out a 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 victor, ending the tournament without dropping a set.
Singapore nerves seemed to affect Pliskova. It marks the first final for Garcia since she won back-to-back titles at Wuhan and Beijing previous year.
"I was a little bit more aggressive than her and that's what made the difference in the first set".