The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Karolina Pliskova

  • Aussie Open Ouster: Karolina was simply superb-Serena

     

    Serena Williams refused to blame a jarred ankle after suffering a remarkable Australian Open collapse in the quarter-finals against Karolina Pliskova.

    From a set and a break down, the title favourite turned things around to lead 5-1 in the deciding set and had four match points but lost six games in a row to fall to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 defeat.

    Williams had her first match point at 5-1 but, after being called for a foot fault on what appeared to be an ace, she jarred her left ankle and did not win another point on serve during the match.

    The other three chances came with Pliskova serving at 4-5 but the Czech was rewarded for bravery on her forehand, and Williams insisted afterwards it had been her opponent who had won the match rather than she who had lost it.

    Williams said: ‘There’s nothing I did wrong on those match points. I can’t say that I choked. She literally played her best tennis ever on those shots.

    ‘I don’t really take losses well. But Karolina played lights out starting 5-1, 40-30. Literally, I’ve never seen anything like it. If anything, I think that’s a little bit easier to know, OK, next time I’m up 5-1 against anybody, I just need to make sure I play lights out when I have match points

    Pliskova was happy to agree with Williams, saying with a smile: ‘I’m not going to go against Serena.

    ‘Normally I’m having lot of comebacks, but maybe from being a set down or a break down, so nothing like this. I think it’s going to be the best comeback ever so far in my life.’

    Asked why she had not called the trainer after the ankle incident, Williams said: ‘I really hate calling the trainer out. And at that point I didn’t feel like I needed it, or I didn’t feel like it would be a big deal. So I just kept going. I like to just kind of tough it out. It was fine.’

  • Halep to face Ostapenko in French Open final

    Halep to face Ostapenko in French Open final

    Romania’s Simona Halep moved within one win of a first Grand Slam title with victory over Karolina Pliskova on Thursday at the French Open.

    Third seed Halep who will become world number one if she succeeds won 6-4 3-6 6-3 to set up a final against unseeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Czech second seed Pliskova would have become world number one next week had she won the second semi-final.

    On her part, Ostapenko celebrated her 20th birthday with a 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-3 win over Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky.

    NAN reports that Mimi Jausovec was the last unseeded player to reach the French Open final in 1983, losing to Chris Evert.

    Saturday’s final will see a new Grand Slam champion crowned, and a new name at the top of the rankings should Halep win and overtake Angelique Kerber.

    “It is nice to be in the final again,” said Halep, who lost to Maria Sharapova in the 2014 French Open final.

    “I hope I can play better and win it. I’m playing a young player – it is a big challenge.”

  • Wozniacki advances into French Open quarter-finals

    Wozniacki advances into French Open quarter-finals

    Former world tennis women’s number one Caroline Wozniacki moved into the French Open quarter-finals on Sunday with a three-set win over Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova.

    The 26-year-old Dane had not reached the last eight at Roland Garros since 2010, but came through to win 6-1 4-6 6-2 against the eighth seed and 2009 champion.

    Karolina Pliskova, the Czech second seed, is also into round four after she beat Carina Witthoft of Germany 7-5 6-1.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Venus Williams and defending champion Garbine Muguruza play later on Sunday.

    Fifth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is safely through to the fourth round after beating Poland’s Magda Linette 6-4 7-5.

    NAN reports that only five of the top 10 seeds now remain in the draw.

  • Pliskova ends hopes of Williams sisters’ showdown

    Karolina Pliskova ruined any chance of another Flushing Meadows sister showdown as she claimed a dramatic 4-6 6-4 7-6(3) win over sixth-seeded Venus Williams on Monday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the win enabled Pliskova to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals.

    At 36-years-old and the oldest remaining player in the draw, Williams battled until the bitter end as her 24-year-old Czech opponent needed five match points and nearly two-and-a-half hours.

    Adding to the suspense, Williams also had a match point opportunity of her own which she failed to convert.

    “You can have a few good matches but to win matches like this, it takes some time,” said Pliskova, who has developed a reputation as a Grand Slam under-achiever having never been beyond the third round until this year’s U.S. Open.

    “You need to have experience definitely on the big stages, on the big tournaments. That was the biggest stage that I’ve played. In the States, obviously against American girl, I knew it’s going to be tough.

    “But I just wanted to beat her, not the crowd, (it) is impossible to beat 23,000 people.”

    Since the draw was unveiled, tennis fans had circled a potential semi-final between the sport’s most famous siblings on American tennis’s biggest stage.

    On this stage, world number one Serena and Venus have met five times, including twice in the finals.

    Now it is 10th-seeded Pliskova, who will play Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska or Croatia’s Ana Konjuh in the quarters.

    She will need to complete a Williams double to reach her first grand slam final.

    Serena, looking to continue her drive for a record seventh U.S. Open title, booked her spot in the last eight with a ruthless 6-2 6-3 win over Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova.

    She has thus set up a meeting with Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep.

    The match between Pliskova and Venus Williams got off to a tepid start but by the time the two players had reached the third set both had found their rhythm.

    This thus elevated the contest into an engrossing battle of the highest quality.

    With Pliskova serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Williams had the first chance to close out the contest but could not convert as the Czech fought back to extend the contest.

    If there were any questions about how fiercely the competitive fires burn within Williams after 18 U.S. Opens, she answered them all in the 11th game.

    With Pliskova up 6-5, 40-0 a fearless Williams fought off three match points to force a tie-break.

    “Just to keep fighting and never to give up,” said Williams. “That was definitely my mindset at that point. Just try to keep winning points.”

    In the tie-break, Williams did not so much run out of gas as ideas against Pliskova.

    The Czech had come into the year’s final grand slam off the biggest victory of her career in Cincinnati, where she upset Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the final.

    Even so, Pliskova would still need two more match points, Williams saving the first with the help of a challenge before she had no answer on the next.