Tonight’s game in Cincinnati brought the Czechs two successes and one disappointment. Martincova finishes on Kontaveit’s racket

Karolína Plíšková was the first of the Czech representatives. She was facing the oldest active player on the circuit, American legend Venus Williams. The match was quite fierce and there were a total of 19 break points. The opening set was a great battle.

At the very end, the Czech number one literally took the match 7:5. Williams, who is forty-two years old at home, was naturally driven forward by the crowd. However, she was running out of juice in the second set and Pliskova improved her game. This led to a clear 6:1 result.

What was definitely not clear was the match between Tereza Martincova and Anett Kontaveit. The Estonian, as the number two seed, entered the match as a big favourite. That it would not be a clear-cut match was confirmed right from the start when Tereza led 4:1 after some 20 minutes of play.

She managed to finish the set 6:3. The duel was absolutely even from the point of view of most statistics. The next 2 sets were both closely won by Kontaveit. First 5::7 and then the deciding set 4::6.

The second Czech to advance is Marie Bouzkova. She faced the local star Cori Gauff. The Czech won the opening game 7::5. In the second set, Bouzkova started with a break and her opponent then gave up the match.

Petra Kvitová will play her second round match today, 17 August at 17:00. Her opponent will be Sorana Cirste of Romania. Half an hour later, Maria Bouzkova and Alison Riske will play in Cincinnati. The two players played each other at Wimbledon this year, where Marie won the match 2-0.

Karolina Pliskova will have to get past Elise Mertens at 20:00. In the third round, Caroline Garcia, who surprisingly defeated Sakkari, who was seeded three here, is waiting for the better of this duel.

Another interesting match, although without Czech participation, will be played from 9 pm. World No. 1 Swiatek will challenge the home team’s Sloane Stephens. The favourite is, of course, the Pole, but in the opening round on home soil, the American Alize Cornetova destroyed her 6:1 and 6:0 in one hour of play. If we add the support of the home crowd, this could be a really interesting battle.

Source: WTA, Twitter