STUTTGART, April 22 — Karolina Pliskova will face world number one Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals of Stuttgart’s WTA clay-court tournament after seeing off Jelena Ostapenko in a three-set battle today. Pliskova, the sixth seed, recovered from losing the first set in a tie break by firing...
Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova returns the ball to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko during their singles match on day 4 of the Women’s Tennis Grand Prix WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, April 22, 2021. — AFP picSTUTTGART, April 22 — Karolina Pliskova will face world number one Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals of Stuttgart’s WTA clay-court tournament after seeing off Jelena Ostapenko in a three-set battle today.
“I like spending time on this court,” joked Pliskova, the 2018 Stuttgart champion, after needing just under two and a half hours to claim victory.“It was a far better performance from me,” she added, having laboured in yesterday’s victory over lucky loser Tamara Korpatsch. Former French Open champion Ostapenko hurled her racquet in anger in the second set, while Pliskova broke one of hers as she regained control of the match.Pliskova, ranked ninth in the world, plays top seed Barty of Australia in the last eight tomorrow.Barty, who won a pre-Australian Open tournament in Melbourne and the Miami Open earlier this month, breezed into the quarter-finals Wednesday by overpowering Laura Siegemund following a first-round bye.