Pliskova hopes to find her best tennis

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Pliskova hopes to find her best tennis
Karolina Pliskova beat Carla Suarez Navarro 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Dubai - A finalist here in 2015, Pliskova made too many errors on Wednesday

By Rituraj Borkakoty

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Published: Wed 21 Feb 2018, 6:44 PM

Last updated: Wed 21 Feb 2018, 8:52 PM

After being asked some tough questions by Carla Suarez Navarro in her three-set (5-7, 6-2 6-4) opening win, the six-foot-one Karolina Pliskova admitted that she needed to raise her game in order to reach the last-four stage at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
A finalist here in 2015, Pliskova made too many errors on Wednesday as Navarro, the feisty Spaniard, pounced on those mistakes to push her to the brink of an early exit. Pliskova, the aggressive baseliner from the Czech Republic, used her greatest weapon - serve - to bail herself out of trouble, hitting 11 aces in the 123-minute battle.
But Pliskova knows her booming serve alone will not save her when she takes on two-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber, who beat Italian qualifier Sara Errani 6-4 6-2, in Thursday's quarterfinal.
"Today it was tough because I was not playing well," Pliskova said after her hard-fought win on Wednesday. "We were both a little bit struggling. I didn't have that many matches for the last couple of weeks since I came from Melbourne. So I am just finding the rhythm of the matches. Finally I got the win, so maybe, it will be better in the next match. But wins like this are important in the season because as I said I wasn't playing my best tennis."
Pliskova knows that it will be a different ball-game against the classy Kerber.
"Yes, I have to improve," the former US Open runner-up admitted.
"Angelique is playing some very good tennis now. I need to play a very good match because she is a very tough player!"
The third seeded Pliskova then revealed why it is always so tough to win matches in Dubai.
"It's not easy in these tournaments here and Doha because you get to face tough players in early rounds. You know if you're coming to a tournament, it's not going to be an easy match from the first round, so you don't really have a chance to warm up," the 25-year-old Pliskova said.
"Sometimes it's better to play those tough matches because in Grand Slams also it can happen that you have a tough draw, or on the big tournaments like Indian Wells or Miami.
"I just think you can face those players in the first round somewhere. We have to take it like this. But maybe I'll prefer some easy rounds for now," she smiled.
It's not going to be easy, though, in the next round against Kerber who has beaten her in four of their previous five clashes!
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com


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