Pliskova powers into Wimbledon fourth round for third straight time
Karolina Pliskova defeats Tereza Martincova on Friday at Wimbledon. A second-week appearance is nothing new for the Czech.
Karolina Pliskova, Wimbledon 2021
Karolina Pliskova had no trouble earning a spot in the second week at Wimbledon, as she cruised past Tereza Martincova during third-round action on Friday afternoon. Pliskova needed one hour and 38 minutes to set up a meeting with the winner of an all-unseeded showdown between Sloane Stephens and Liudmila Samsonova.
This match pretty much all came down to Pliskova’s first serve, and she made enough of them advance with relative ease. The bad news for the 13th-ranked ranked Czech is that she was hopeless on second serve, double-faulting nine times and winning only 39 percent of the points when she missed her first delivery. On the bright side for her, she didn’t have to hit many seconds. Pliskova served at 70 percent and she won 72 percent of her first-serve points — including seven aces. The 29-year-old also did extremely well to save seven of eight break points.
As expected, a move from clay to grass appears to be just what the doctor ordered for Pliskova, who has been struggling this season. In fact, she had not progressed to the fourth round of any Grand Slam since the 2019 US Open. However, this is her third consecutive trip to the fourth round at Wimbledon (the championships, of course, were cancelled in 2020).
Surprisingly, Pliskova has never advanced to the quarter-finals at the All-England Club. She will attempt to accomplish that feat on Monday.
Pliskova is joined in the last 16 by Iga Swiatek, who erased Irina-Camelia Begu in 55 minutes.
