Pliskova avenges Wimbledon loss, sets Anisimova showdown in San Jose
Pliskova avenges Wimbledon loss: Karolina Pliskova, the No. 8 seed at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, won the first-round match against Katie Boulter by a score of 1-6, 7-6(5), and 6-3 after coming back from a set down.
Pliskova ended a two-match losing streak to Boulter with her victory. The streak included back-to-back defeats on the grass courts at Eastbourne and Wimbledon in the previous month.
Pliskova survived a challenging serving day to defeat Boulter and record her first victory on a hard court this season. This was Pliskova’s first match since she parted ways with her former coach, Sascha Bajin. The powerful Czech server was responsible for 16 double faults, which is the most she has ever committed in a single WTA match.
Boulter, who is ranked No. 127, breezed through the first set, winning it 6-1 in just 28 minutes to gain the early advantage. Pliskova promptly turned things around in the second set and broke Boulter three times to create a 5-1 lead after failing to capitalize on any of her three break point opportunities in the first set.
The comeback attempt by Boulter was unsuccessful. Boulter would rally from her deficit in the second set to come within two points of winning the match. She won the next four games in a row to even the set at 5 games apiece. Boulter would serve with a mini-break advantage at 5-4 in the tiebreak after breaking through Pliskova’s baseline defense with a constant onslaught of forehand winners. This allowed Boulter to get closer to winning the match.
Unreturnable serves
But Boulter was unable to take advantage of her position to the fullest. Pliskova, who was serving at 4-5 and behind, found two unreturnable serves to reach set point and then capitalized on a forehand error made by Boulter to force a decisive set.
According to Pliskova, “I thought the first two sets were a bit unusual because I believed she played really well in the first set.” “I thought the first set was her best performance.” After that, at the beginning of the second set, she began to make more errors, and I began to play better, particularly on my serve and my return. The score then quickly returned to 5-5. It was unquestionably a challenging day of serving for me today.”
Pliskova finally acquired an insurmountable advantage when she broke Boulter for the third time in the set, giving her a 5-3 lead. This came after an exchange of breaks early on in the third set between the two players. This time, the player who had previously held the No. 1 ranking left nothing to chance, as she served out the victory after 2 hours and 13 minutes.
“I’m relieved that it’s behind us. Pliskova laughed as she made a reference to her recent record versus Boulter and said, “Hopefully I won’t have to see her again.”
Faults
The most notable statistic from the match is that Pliskova had previously set the record for the maximum number of double faults in a single match in 2014 in Seoul when she struck 14 against Maria Kirilenko in the semifinals of that tournament. Pliskova was ultimately victorious in the competition.
Pliskova stated the following regarding her decision to switch coaches: “I felt that we are not progressing from one point.” Not content to always play in the same manner, I consider myself the type of player who actively seeks for new and different approaches and answers. Certainly, it is possible that this is the correct path, but I do not believe that this is the correct path when you are 30 years old.
“Consequently, I made the decision to change not just my fitness coach but also the people that were always around me. It had been almost two years with Sascha, which was an unbelievable amount of time. There is nothing that bothers me about him. Even though he gave me a lot, all I wanted was something fresh and new, and I wanted to hear various things.