Pliskova progresses to Montreal face-off with Swiatek – Hot

Rain played havoc with the opening-day schedule at the Omnium Banque Nationale, but Karolina Pliskova was still able to line up a second-round showdown against top seed Iga Swiatek at the WTA 1000 event on Monday. 

Pliskova of the Czech Republic scored a 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-2 victory over China’s Zhu Lin in their first-round match in Montreal. Pliskova, who was the runner-up in Montreal two years ago, took 2 hours and 22 minutes of play to overcome Zhu.

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The day’s first rain delay paused that match at 8-8 in the second-set tiebreak, just after Pliskova had missed out on two match points. Upon resumption, Zhu won the next two points to eke out the second set, but Pliskova rebounded in the third set, where she broke Zhu’s serve three times.

“I was kind of ready for both situations because it’s 8-8, so it can just be like two quick points, so you have to be ready that you are going to lose them as well,” Pliskova said. “Of course, it’s tough because you kind of are so close to the win, and then you just start from zero going in the third set, but there’s nothing you can do. You have to still be there and fight.”

Former World No.1 Pliskova will now be pitted against current World No.1 Swiatek at the hardcourt event. Swiatek has won their two previous meetings, which were both on clay. Swiatek routed Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the 2021 Rome final, but she needed three sets to beat Pliskova in Stuttgart this April.

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“I was not really close to winning [in Stuttgart], but I just felt like I found the game which I have to play against [Swiatek], which of course, not always is easy,” Pliskova said. “She can really make you feel, like, not lost, but I mean, she doesn’t give you many free points.

“You have to find that balance between playing risky, aggressive, but not too risky, not too much, because then [Swiatek’s] not going to give you many points. Of course, that’s going to be the most difficult part, to find what is too much and what is not enough.”

Another former World No.1, Victoria Azarenka, took down Magda Linette 6-3, 6-0 in a battle between this year’s Australian Open semifinal finishers.

Highlights: Azarenka def. Linette

No.16 seed Azarenka bested 25th-ranked Linette in a match which had a nearly-three-hour rain delay directly following the first set. After returning to court, Azarenka won 24 out of the 31 second-set points, avenging a loss to Linette in their most recent meeting in Miami this March.

In other results from the day session, 12th-seed Belinda Bencic eased past Lucia Bronzetti 6-2, 6-3 and Sorana Cirstea advanced with a 6-4, 7-6(3) win over Varvara Gracheva.