Svitolina brilliantly held serve at 3-2 in the second set with two great backhand winners, only for Pliskova to break in her 22-year-old opponent's next service game and close out victory to reach her 17th WTA final.
Pliskova could go to fifth in the world rankings if she beats Cornet, who won her only meeting with the big-hitting Czech in 2013, in the final on Saturday
Unseeded Frenchwoman Cornet reached her first final in nearly three years after Spanish fourth seed Garbine Muguruza was forced to retire due to injury.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Muguruza struggled to hold serve in the opening stages and was broken after a string of long rallies before quitting the match at 4-1 down due to a thigh injury.
"I was really focused on my match but I could tell (Garbine) was not playing like usual. She was not running or hitting the ball as well as usual," Cornet, who is now guaranteed a seeding at this month's Australian Open, said.
"But I was just trying to stay focused on what I had to do. Of course, it's not the way I wanted to get to the final but its part of the game."
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
