A successful day in Dubai. Four Czech women continue! Kvitova and Krejcikova will play against each other for the quarterfinals

The third day of play at the WTA tournament in Dubai is over. Six Czech tennis players entered the battle for the eighth round, four of whom were successful. Karolina Pliskova crushed the world number seven, Barbora Krejcikova fought for over two and a half hours and can look forward to the duel with Petra Kvitova.

Dubai hosts the first ever WTA 1000 event on this year’s calendar. There are only three players missing from the top 20 of the women’s ranking, so there is no shortage of quality.

This anticipated tournament has also attracted seven Czech tennis players. Petra Kvitova was the only one from this group to be among the seeds, yet the Czech colours are doing very well so far.

Immediately the first round brought a clash of two Czech women. The derby between Karolina Pliskova and Marketa Vondroušová was better for the more experienced of the pair, as Pliskova won in two sets.

The remaining five domestic tennis players also made it through to the next round of the tournament. Kvitová, Krejčíková, Fruhvirtová, Bouzková and Muchová managed to advance without losing a set.

Four Czechs in the eighth round

Tuesday’s busy second round programme started in the morning hours with Barbora Krejcikova. She faced the seventh-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia on Centre Court. The two players have already clashed in Adelaide this year, where Krejcikova fell without winning a set.

The former French Open winner got off to a great start this time. In the first set, she quickly took a 5:0 lead, but eventually worked hard to win it, 6:4. Kasatkina started to come out of the blocks, which was confirmed in the second set. The Russian managed to win it with the same result and the match went to a deciding set.

This time, the eighth-ranked player got to the break first, but in the end, Krejcikova turned away three match points and after more than two and a half hours of struggle, she moved on after 6::4, 4::6, 7::5.

The morning programme also featured Karolina Pliskova and Karolina Muchova. The former encountered the tournament’s number six Maria Sakkariova, but the native of Louny did not allow any drama and after seventy minutes she crushed the Greek 6:1, 6:2. In the next round she will face unseeded Ukrainian Anna Kalinin.

Karolína Muchová has been struggling with her health for the last few months, so she will only start in Dubai thanks to her “protected ranking”. On Monday, she got past Pera without a problem, and the next day she faced the unpredictable Sorana Cirstea of Romania. The 11th seeded opponent gave Muchova problems at the beginning of the match, but she successfully turned the first set around from 1:3 and took the lead 6:4.

The second set was a bit more dramatic, with the difference that this time the Romanian had to finish. Although she managed to send the set to a tiebreak, Muchova ended the match and will face Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals.

Petra Kvitová, the only Czech seeded player in this tournament, is going through the tournament without any problems. She did not spend more than ninety minutes on the court on both Sunday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, however, her opponent will be her compatriot Barbora Krejcikova, whom she has not yet faced on the WTA circuit.

Fruhvirtova and Bouzkova will not play again

Unfortunately, the tournament journey is over for 17-year-old rising star Linda Fruhvirtova. In the first round, perhaps slightly surprisingly, she got past the American Collins, even in two sets, but on Tuesday she already crashed hard.

In her match against Jelena Ostapenko, the Australian Open eight-finalist hardly got a chance and played only two games, yet she could be looking at a top 50 ranking for the first time in the new edition of the WTA rankings.

The end of the second round provided an attractive duel between Maria Bouzkova and Elena Rybakina. The two-time Grand Slam finalist was undoubtedly the clear favourite before the match. Bouzkova, on the other hand, entered the court with her first-round win under her belt.

The first set brought an even contest until the very end. Rybakina went up 7:5 after an hour of play. At the beginning of the second set, another loss of serve came and this time the Prague native failed to close the score. Bouzkova leaves the United Arab Emirates early after the result 5::7 2::6.

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