Pliskova edges Ostapenko in late night three setter at Stuttgart

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Karolina Pliskova earned a personal best at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix early Saturday morning. With a battle on her hands against Jelena Ostapenko, the Czech powerhouse overcame an early deficit playing neck and neck before winning 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 on Centre Court at Porsche Arena in Stuttgart. It was the first time Pliskova advanced beyond the semifinals in the tournament and a win that would move her up the rankings next week.

The two split wins against one another last season with Ostapenko getting the best of the Czech number one in straight sets at Singapore. While Pliskova holds the series lead 2-1 her difficulty with the clay courts has her at a disadvantage playing against the recent French Open champion. While she has gained more time on the court, the aggressive style of the Latvian will prove difficult with so much at stake for both sitting a rank above the other.

The Latvian was finding her niche very well serving strong to open the match before breaking the former number one by breaking her serve. Her strengths on the court allowed her to dictate a 3-0 lead taking Pliskova’s game out of commission. Showing no sign of frustration, the Czech pulled together her service game in the fourth and hunted down two more victories to level the score at three all. The second serve of Ostapenko’s was the factor of her losing control of the score landing two of six so far.

She rallied to put an end to Pliskova’s turn of regulating the set and regain back control with a break followed by a serve that gave her a shot at the set first. She was blocked from getting the set over and done with as Pliskova was ready to go to great lengths to change the course of the set. It led them to extra frames where it was the Latvian in the lead.

With some effort against Plsikova’s service, the 20-year-old broke the world number six to win 7-5 in 42 minutes. The Latvian nailed down 17 winners against Pliskova will maintaining 69 percent on the first serve. Despite having double the number of errors and three double faults, the ability to win more points overall was the factor to her being up a set.

The second began with both on serve through two before an early break chance came in Pliskova’s hands. Ostapenko avoided faltering early to secure the ground back for a 2-1 hold. The former world number one answered with a win in the fourth staying at level terms with the young Latvian before breaking her in the fifth in an attempt to push out ahead. Ostapenko responded with a break of her own before achieving the match’s first serve to love to lead in the late stages of the set.

After Pliskova recovered the gap she again found herself playing for survival as she played to stay alive in the match. She did just that sending them onward with Ostapenko to act first where she double faulted giving Pliskova plenty of breathing room. She wasted no time getting to 40-0 on the Latvian earning a chance to end the set herself and force a decider. With the ball in her hands, the 26-year-old got the win she needed to force Ostapenko into a third set that would determine the second semifinal.

The set took 43 minutes where Pliskova made a big difference landing six aces and 11 winners. Ostapenko had 17 winners and four aces but the second serve was struggling with unforced errors that led to her letting the match win slip away. She got another try at it opening with a service win in the first with Pliskova following suit. She took the lead in the third putting together some good body shots that had the ball return difficult for Ostapenko. Her opponent put aggression in her break opportunity that paid off creating a new pace. They went like that through the fifth where Pliskova had the lead and backed up the break with stunning defense against the world number five.

Ostapenko found herself down two games but recovered one on serve despite having a limp in her leg. She was unwilling to give in to pain as the fourth seed fought but fell back two games with Pliskova’s first attempt at the match. The Czech made some mistakes and tried to get a point while on the return side but closing things out weren’t happening on the Latvian’s watch. It was now up to the 20-year-old to survive Pliskova’s service game who put together a great return rally using both sides of the racket.

She continued landing winners across court that had Pliskova needing two to force deuce. She got it done with an ace down the line for her 14^th of the match. After four breaks and an overturn call later, the former number one walked away with victory ending a long night on court that took 2 hour and 18 minutes to finish.

With more points available and a finals spot within reach for Pliskova, she will try and get there facing Annet Kontaveit on Saturday.

Garcia outplays Svitolina to advance at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix

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Caroline Garcia was still alive at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Friday night. The world number seven fought out another way of bringing a third set against Elina Svitolina before taking the helm in a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 score on Centre Court at Porsche Arena in Stuttgart. It was the third time she had to go the distance against the top ranked Ukrainian and third in a row against her.

The world number six got the edge in the series last season with two victories against Svitolina at Beijing and Singapore concluding the 2017 tour. Garcia beat the world number four in three sets twice. This was also the second quarterfinal match for the players who were still getting used to the clay court surface.

Garcia had a lot more time on the court defeating Maria Sharapova and Marta Kostyuk that spanned six sets combined. While Svitolina played three herself, the last one came to a halt midway as her opponent called it quits due to injury. With the Ukrainian becoming the highest ranked player left in the tournament, she would have a lot on her hands to accomplish victory.

She delivered the first service hold of the match before Garcia came out guns blazing landing a couple aces in the process. She continued her pace in the third capturing the win on deuce with another two aces adding up to five so far. They stopped coming as the players got into a tug of war over control that led to the next three games going to deuce. Despite the extra time of playing those games out, they remained on serve with the Frenchwoman breaking the pace with a stronger hold in the seventh.

Garcia then captured the first break of the set serving for the lead with Svitolina fighting to stay alive. She earned a break herself committing to her game on the return end that gave her a chance to level the score. Both coaches came out to their respective players to give them pointers on how to defend and attack as both were looking for progress. Svitolina achieved her mission to keep the set going with a solid hold over Garcia in the tenth.

The situation became intense as every point mattered to the players going forward. Garcia earned the first step to get ahead of Svitolina on serve before the world number four responded in kind. They went to their fourth career tiebreak with Svitolina changing things up to lead briefly. Her minibreak on Garcia ended putting them back into a tie after six points. The Ukrainian had enough of being in a tight spot with Garcia and blew ahead gaining three points in a row to win the set in 56 minutes.

The third seed was outshooting the number six seed on first serve points land 72 percent while Garcia managed 55 percent but edged Svitolina on second serve success. With the leverage in hand for Svitolina, she would try to prevent history from repeating itself when leading the match over the Frenchwoman. The knowledge of that came to be useful for her being aggressive on her shots that produced a 2-0 run frustrating Garcia. She backed up her lead with the double break wanting nothing more than to stay out front.

The sixth seed held in the fourth to end the shutout but was down two games with the Ukrainian back on serve. The lone victory turned the set around for the French star as she began her comeback to level the score at three all. Svitolina managed to stop her opponent’s winning streak getting a grip on her serve in the seventh. She called Bettles out to help keep her focused and give her ideas on how to counter Garcia’s push to compete. It didn’t shape into a break for the world number four as she found Garcia leveled once again refusing to go down. With the momentum heavily on her end, Garcia got the lead back playing for a shot at a third set coming into play. Svitolina knew that what she did in the opening set had to occur in order to avoid a lengthy night on court.

It became a drawn-out battle for her and Garcia as they went to deuce where Svitolina earned every chance through six breaks failing to get the ball over the net on the return. It allowed Garcia to gain all the chances to change the tide and make her moment count landing an ace after the seventh break before winning the set straight up to send the two to a deciding third set. It took 51 minutes to complete the second with Garcia improving greatly playing 77 percent on the first serve while Svitolina’s suffered below 40.

With none of that mattering, the third was key for both to outduel one another as a semifinal spot was on the line. After each earned a service hold, Garcia changed it up with a break on Svitolina before widening the gap for herself at 3-1. A double break had her very much in a dominant role with Svitolina struggling to keep up the pace as the aces began to return for the world number seven.

The sixth saw a challenge from the Ukrainian but converting on break points was no longer her forte as Garcia had things under control on deuce. She put herself a game away from the match with Svitolina on the edge of a big defeat. She denied Garcia the chance to do that pulling off a double game point to keep on playing. Garcia had the opportunity to serve for the match in the eighth where she made it incredibly tough for Svitolina gaining two match points before smashing an ace to win her way into Saturday’s semifinal against Coco Vandeweghe.

It was a 2 hour and 16-minute battle that had the Frenchwoman fighting back to complete yet another victory in that fashion. “I fought very hard and played better and better,” Garcia said during her on court interview. “The last couple of matches that Elina and I played against each other was kind of a battle with breaks of serves in the match. I was pissed about my game once again at 5-3 but I kept fighting and stayed positive.”

Svitolina advances on Vondrousova at Porsche Tennis GP

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Elina Svitolina showed signs of struggle at the start of the match but earned an early pass into the quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Thursday. Marketa Vondrousova got overheated on court in the third set before retiring in a 2-6,6-1,3-2 match on Centre Court at Porsche Arena.

The two met back in February where the Ukrainian took down the Czech in straight sets in what was her first match of the tournament. With the situation similar, the world number four hoped to get a good footing into the clay court season in what was her first appearance in the tournament. Svitolina hasn’t played since March 28^th taking plenty of time to rest before going heavily into the next few tournaments prior to Roland Garros. Vondrousova stands on a four-match winning streak looking for another chance at getting her first career top ten upset.

She came out firing making things difficult for Svitolina landing five winners through two games including her own service hold. It took time for the world number four to capture her own hold playing through a few breaks. They carried on with Vondrousova taking point on winning her service games before breaking Svitolina in the sixth. The Czech gained further ground on the third seed pulling together another service hold with a clear threat of taking the set.

Andrew Bettles came out during the break to help try and get Svitolina back on track but it was not meant to be as Vondrousova closed things out with two set points. It was a 27-minute run for the Czech who had 11 winners despite committing three double faults. Svitolina clearly had not found her gear putting very little offense in the set with the need for more in the second set.

It was exactly what came to be as she battled hard against Vondrousova’s serve going to deuce where it took three break attempts to get it done. She began voicing her aggression in her strokes that earned her a second win holding on serve. Double faults were becoming a major problem for the Czech teen as she dropped another game giving Svitolina some much needed breathing room.

A problem in the fourth for Svitolina ended her rush to improvement slipping up on serve to get Vondrousova into the set. The same could be said for the 18-year-old as she had some weird moments during points that gave the Ukrainian an easy break. It was the last one she would get in the set as Svitolina was on a mission holding for a 5-1 lead. With a final attack against Vondrousova’s serve, she slammed the ball well achieve two set points to send them into a third set.

Vondrousova took the early break that frustrated Svitolina but made up for it breaking the 18-year-old with a fine well-rounded defense. They remained deadlocked through four with Svitolina leading the way for them each time. After the fifth game, while Bettles talked with Svitolina, the 18-year-old called the physical trainer and decided to call it quits bringing an end to 1 hour and 29 minutes.

“It’s always tough to play an opponent who is a little bit injured and the clay court doesn’t help really with this kind of injury that she was carrying so it’s always tough so hopefully she can recover quickly and be ready for the next tournament,” Svitolina said about her opponent after the match. “She was playing great tennis in the first. She played a couple of matches already and a bit more used to it. I was just trying to find my game and maybe going a little too much so hopefully I can go on court and be ready for the next match.”

She’ll take on Caroline Garcia in Friday’s quarterfinal which would no doubt be a big challenge as the world number six continues to be on a hot streak.