Karolina Pliskova returns to the WTA circuit. What successes did she want to build on in Rome?

Former world number one Karolina Pliskova skipped the tournament in Madrid, but she was already among the seeded tennis players at a similarly big event in Rome. She had something to build on here. In 2019-2021, the current world No. 14 played three excellent tournaments here. What did she achieve here and how was her return to the courts on Thursday?

Karolina Pliskova is not a fan of clay and for a long time even the WTA event in Rome did not suit her very well. She has experienced a lot at the tournament in the Italian capital and often the experiences were rather unpleasant. She put all that behind her in 2019 when she won the Italian Open here.

Back then, after three three-set battles, she made her way to the final where she won against Johanna Konta. This triumph was and still remains her greatest achievement on clay events.

In the 2020 covid year, the tournament was held in an atypical autumn date, but the native of Louny almost repeated her performance from the previous year, reaching the final. There, she retired against Romania’s Halep due to problems with her left leg. Last year in Rome brought the Czech’s third consecutive final appearance and only last year Pliskova said goodbye to the event early.

This year’s clay court season of the 31-year-old player brought only three matches. After a quarterfinal defeat in Stuttgart, where she had the toughest possible opponent, Poland’s Swiatek, Pliskova withdrew from the Madrid Open. She was treating an injured knee, so Thursday brought her first start. But by then we’re back at the Italian Open.

Thursday’s match of Karolina Pliskova

Pliskova’s opponent in her first match was Anna Bondárová. The 25-year-old Hungarian has already managed three matches in Rome. In the first round she surprised Germany’s Mario, but nevertheless Pliskova entered Thursday’s match as the favourite.

The beginning of the match was clearly better for Bondárová, the Czech tennis player was already 0:3 down. However, she did not say her last word, winning four games in a row and going on serve. After a long game, she lost it and it was tied. The match was heading for a tiebreak.

At 5::6 on the Czech’s serve, her unforced errors alternated with incisive smashes that marked her points.

In the tiebreak, Pliskova led 1::0, but after losing the longer exchanges, the score was reversed to 1::3. The Czech sensed that her chance lay in an active attack, and after success at the net, she reduced the difference to a single point, but did not level the score in the shortened game. Set to Bondárová.

The second set started just like the first – Bondárová went on a tear. Unlike the first set, our player could not find any more resistance. She fell 2::6 and said goodbye to the Italian Open in her opening match.

More Czechs in action

Let’s hope that the Czech colours will see better results on Friday. Four Czechs can build on Pliskova’s earlier successes. Markéta Vondroušová will challenge Canada’s Andreescu, Karolina Muchová will take on Italy’s Trevisan and world number 13 Barbora Krejčíková will face Montenegro’s Kovinic.

All three Czechs will be favourites in their matches. Barbora Strýcová will have a tougher task, as she will face Maria Sakkariová, who is currently ranked eighth in the WTA rankings.

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