On its first day of action, the J&T Banka Prague Open has already lost its biggest name, as 2015 champion and first seed Karolina Pliskova suffered a straight-set defeat from Camila Giorgi, with the final scoreline of 7-6(6), 6-2.
Prior to this match, the Czech lead their head to head with three wins to 0, the last one happened in this same tournament in 2016, where the former champion had prevailed 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
For Giorgi, this has been the first top 10 win of the season (the seventh overall), and the first top-3 win in career.
Giorgi missed several opportunities, eventually claims the first-set tie-break
The first part of the match had been characterized by quick service games, as both players relied on their respective serves to score points without struggle.
In the third game, after Giorgi hits two-straight errors, Pliskova earned a first chance to break, saved by her opponent with a backhand winner; Giorgi went on to a safe hold.
Then the Italian played an almost flawless game on return, hitting two return winners to gain a break point, and converting it the same way, taking the lead of the match. She didn't show to be as comfortable on her own serve, and needed to save one more break point before holding and consolidate a 4-1 score.
The Czech's unfortunate moment on serve kept going on, as she found herself 15-40 down right in the next game. Nevertheless, the world number 2 didn't lose focus, and a hit three strong serves and an ace to quickly claim the game. She didn't waste the momentum and kept battling on Giorgi's serve, rallying back from 40-15 down once again to eventually convert her first break-point. She didn't drop a point on her service game to level-off the score to 4-4.
Giorgi reacted well, and despite she needed to save a break point, she interrupted her opponent's streak and held the game with a good combination of serve and backhand, which she used many times toward the match. She kept battling and earned two set points on Pliskova's serve, but once again the Czech saved the day with a huge help from her serve. Two errors from Giorgi eased her way to hold the game. Two more quick service games from both players lead the game into the tie-break.
As in the previous game, the breaker had seen Giorgi seal the lead since the beginning. She had had three set points from 6-3 up, but Pliskova once again saved them all. A fourth one had been fatal to the world number 2, and Giorgi booked the first set with a 7-6(6) scoreline after more than an hour of play.
Giorgi dominates the set and wins the match
The Italian's good moment continued in the second set, that began with a long, battled game in which the Czech found herself in need to save break points once again; too many errors from the world number 2 eased Giorgi's path to eventually claim the game with a return winner. A quick, easy game on her serve and the Italian consolidated the lead.
Pliskova's hard moment didn't seem to pass, as Giorgi became more dangerous with her forehand; still, the Italian scored important points with her backhand down the line, and with this shot, she scored the point that gave her a double-break lead over Pliskova.
To keep her lead, however, she needed to battle against the Czech in the following game; despite the world number 2's tries, Giorgi didn't falter and relied on her serve to save two break points and go 4-0 up.
Pliskova held to reduce the gap, but a hold to love from Giorgi clearly didn't give her any chances to break back. After another hold from the Czech, the Italian get the chance to serve out the match. She didn't face any dangerous challenge from the world number two, and converted her first match point with a forehand winner, claiming the match with a final score of 7-6, 6-2.
What's next for Giorgi
The Italian in defending a quarterfinal result from 2016. To earn a spot in the last eight, she will have to defeat the winner between Qiang Wang and Maria Sakkari. She had met both players one time in career; the Greek lead their head to head with a win in New Haven in 2016, while the Chinese had lost their only previous encounter, this year in Shenzhen, with the clear result of 6-0, 6-2.