Pliskova plays giant-killer

Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic survived two match points to upset third seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania in three sets for a semi-final berth in the US$250,000 PTT Pattaya Open at the Dusit Thani Pattaya Hotel yesterday.

The 66 th ranked Czech was facing two match points at 4-5 in the second set but got herself off the hooks with powerful serves including two aces before turning the situation around to win the one hour and 43 minute match 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-0.

“I didn’t expect to win. She was playing amazing in the first set and I didn’t have any chance to play my game. She was playing fast and she was killing all my second serves as I didn’t have high percentage of my second serves. In the second set I was just trying to hold my serves and hoped that in the tie- break anything could happen,” said Pliskova in her first Sappearance in Pattaya as she preferred to continue competing outdoor coming from Auckland and Australian Open.

Fans were prepared for the big upset when the two-time semi-finalist Cirstea cruised through the opening set easily and was on the threshold of victory at 5-4 40-15 on the Czech serve. With her back against the wall, Pliskova summoned her big serve to stave off the first match point and the second with by forcing a backhand error from the Romanian. 

Two back-to-back aces brought the 21-year-old Czech back into the match while the Romanian showed signed of nerves from then on. Pliskova who lifted up her first title from the WTA in Kuala Lumpur last February strode to a 5-0 lead and successfully leveled the tie with an impressive forehand down the line winner.

After a heat policy break, it was a one woman show by Pliskova who exploited a string of unforced errors from the mentally collapsed Romanian to win six games in a row. The Czech knew her opponent would be mentally affected after slipping chances to close out the match.

“When you lose the second set from having two match points and the tie-break , it’s bad,” added Pliskova will take on a winner between fifth-seeded Elena Vesina of Russia or Julia Georges of Germany in today’s semi-final which can be seen live on NBT and T Sports from 4pm. 

“I’m happy that I’ve won hard matches here. I played my last semi-final in Kuala Lumpur which is almost a year. So I’m happy that I’m not going to lose points. I played Georges once so I knew how she played but for Vesina, I’ve never played her. I have to see she play some games,” added the Czech rising star. 

In another quarter-final match , world No 126 Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic upset eighth seeded and world No 50 Peng Shuai of China 6-2 7-5 in one hour and 29 minutes. 

Hlavackova who is also playing her first time at the beach city would take on either fourth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia or Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in the other semi-final.