In the rematch of their Wimbledon second round clash, Karolina Pliskova took her revenge on Misaki Doi to book her spot into Western and Southern Open’s quarterfinal, with a 7-5, 6-3 scoreline.
It will be Pliskova’s seventh quarterfinal of the season, including the one that led her to the semifinals in Indian Wells, and the fifth at a WTA Premier level.
Doi, who had lost in the final round of the qualifying draw, had entered the competition as a lucky loser after the withdrawal of first seed and wild card Serena Williams. Despite her loss, she will have the chance to enter the top 30 for the first time next week, as the points she gained let her being currently 30th in the live rankings; she will also have the chance to be seeded for a major tournament, the U.S. Open, for the first time in career.
Pliskova breaks Doi to book the first set
The Czech started playing aggressive since the beginning of the match, but too many easy errors forced her into a slow start.
Most of the first set consisted in battled exchanges of holds. Pliskova comfortably dictated the games with her first serve (scoring 100% of the points with it, and hitting 10 aces), but a poor percentage of first serves in (only 45%) eased for Doi to counterattack on the Czech’s second serves. The Japanese, on the other hand, despite being less decisive with her own serve, had been helped by some good first serves and a solid play during rallies to hold her service games through the end of the set.
Both players had had their chances to break; Pliskova found one in the third game, but three unforced errors in a row wasted her effort and allowed Doi to hold.
Right in the following game, two double-faults in a row from the Czech and a return winner gave one chance to the Japanese; she wasted it with a forehand error, and Pliskova compensated the double-faults with two aces to close the game.
Doi kept trying to create chances when Pliskova was forced to hit a second serve, being aggressive on returns and trying to take control of the rallies; Pliskova kept hitting too many unforced errors, but compensated them with a similar number of winners (18 to 16), to always prevent her opponent to take the lead.
After a perfect game from Pliskova, with three aces and a service winner, Doi needed to counter two more break points on her serve; she hit a forehand error to gift the Czech the break and gave her the chance to serve for the set.
One more time, it had been the first serve who helped Pliskova out from a tricky situation; she converted her second set point, and closed the first set with a 7-5 score line.
Pliskova finds more consistency on serve to reach the quarterfinals
Pliskova started aggressively again in the second set, but one more time, three errors in a row made her miss the chance to gain a break point, and Doi held to start the set.
The Japanese found a good pace on return, and a double-fault from the Czech gifted her two break points, but she failed to convert them. With aggressive groundstrokes, Pliskova counterattacked, but she too failed to convert the break points she gained. After Pliskova held to love, it had been the Japanese’s turn to give two chances to break with a double-fault. This time, the 24-year-old didn’t fail and took the lead.
More relaxed, she comfortably held to 15, and forced Doi to a full defense on her following serve, without managing to increase her lead.
Up 5-3, the Czech didn’t need to wait for her chance to serve out the match; a solid game on return on Doi’s serve quickly gave her three match points. The Japanese saved the first one, but a good return winner from Pliskova converted the second, closing the set with a 6-3 score.
Pliskova's 27 unforced errors hit during the match had been compensated by an equal number of winners, and a better consistency on serve during the second set - especially after that first break won - helped her to secure the lead and eventually claim the match.
Karolina Pliskova is reaching the quarterfinals in Cincinnati for the first time in career. She will meet the winner of the match between Timea Bacsinszky and Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Swiss leads their head-to-head 2-1, while it would be a first career meeting with the Russian veteran.