Top seed Karolina Pliskova overcame some rusty service games to brush aside Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3, in the second round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
The 25-year-old was contesting her first match since crashing out at the second round of the Wimbledon championships. Facing former top-20 player Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the quarterfinals in Stanford last week, the Czech proved to be stronger and more dominant of the two. Although it was a far from perfect victory for Pliskova, who admitted to feeling nervous prior to the match.
“A little bit (nervous) before the match, but during the match I felt much better, especially at the end.” She said.
Participating in her first match as world No.1, Pliskova got off to a dream start against her inconsistent rival. Pavlyuchenkova, who won the Indian Wells title earlier in the year, struggled with her serve throughout the first set. Racing to 5-1 after three consecutive breaks, Pliskova also had her own challenges to contend with. The most prevalent was her first serve in rate of only 38%. Still, it was Pavlyuchenkova’s error count that was the most problematic. Even when the Russian reclaimed one of the breaks to close the gap to 5-3, she failed to generate momentum. Allowing Pliskova to clinch the set with the help of her opponents 13th unforced error of the match.
Closing in on the finish line, the second set was a case of deja vu. The consistency of the top seed was enough to tame her opponent. Clinching a double break on route to a 6-3, 3-0 lead, Pavlyuchenkova managed to illustrate glimmers of her talent by breaking back. Nevertheless, the world No.1 remained in control.
.@KaPliskova is moving up a gear in the second set! #RogersCup pic.twitter.com/bOQv7CxzeM
— WTA (@WTA) 9 August 2017
Moving to a game away from victory at 5-2, Pliskova was far from her best after dropping a service game to love. Shaking off the rust, she managed to eventually come through the 69-minute encounter in the following game thanks to a forehand error from the Russian on her first match point.
“I think it was not the best tennis from my side, but I was trying to improve in the match.” Said Pliskova, who hit four double faults and 12 unforced errors.
“I felt pretty good today.” She later added.
Claiming her 24th win on a hard-court this season, the world No.1 is aiming to be only the fourth Czech woman to win the Rogers Cup in the Open Era. In the next round she will play either Naomi Osaka or Anastasija Sevastova.
“I’m definitely happy that I am through to the next round. The first matches are always tough.” She commented.
Pliskova has already won three WTA titles this season in Brisbane, Doha and Eastbourne.
First match as no. 1, first win as no. 1! 🎉👍@KaPliskova is moving on at #RogersCup pic.twitter.com/Vf9vQIPd2V
— Rogers Cup Toronto (@rogerscup) 9 August 2017
