MELBOURNE — Fifth seed Karolina Pliskova continued her impressive march through the Australian Open Thursday, and is beginning to believe she could be on track for a Grand Slam to remember.
The towering Czech star dished out a 6-0, 6-2 lesson to hapless Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova in the second round and has only dropped four games so far in two matches.
She hasn’t lost this year, lifting the trophy in this month’s Brisbane International, and her confidence is running high.
“I’m feeling pretty good on the court, confident. I have some matches already that I won this year. I didn’t lose yet, which is also a good thing,” she said.
“I think I’m playing good, even though the opponents were not that high level, I would say.
Awaiting her next is Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who upset 31st seed Yulia Putintseva in straight sets.
If she beats Ostapenko, as form suggests she will, a potential quarterfinal against third seed Agnieszka Radwanska will be within Pliskova’s sights.
But the Czech star, who broke through last year in making the US Open final, losing to Angelique Kerber, is taking nothing for granted.
Blinkova, in her Grand Slam debut aged only 18 and ranked 189 in the world, never stood a chance in warm sunshine on Margaret Court Arena.
It was her first match against a top 10 opponent and she was out of her depth, struggling with her first serve and her returning.
Power server Pliskova gave no ground and raced through the first set in just 25 minutes, with Blinkova winning only 12 points.
Ranked at a career-high five in the world, the tall and tattooed 24-year old was in no mood to give an inch and romped 4-0 in front in the second set before Blinkova finally held serve.
She raised her arm in the air and got huge cheers from the crowd, and then held serve for a second time before Pliskova wrapped up a routine victory.
KONTA SETS UP WOZNIACKI BLOCKBUSTER
Johanna Konta set up a mouth-watering third-round clash against former world number one Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open Thursday, with both players looking in fine touch.
The British ninth seed, who made the semifinals last year to kick-start a breakthrough season, doused the threat from promising 19-year-old Japanese Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
Dane Wozniacki followed her on court and dismantled Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-1, 6-3, barely putting a foot wrong.
Both players are angling for a maiden Grand Slam title with the winner of their clash on Saturday potentially facing sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round and Serena Williams in the quarters.
Coming off the back of winning the build-up Sydney International, the Sydney-born Konta has been improving by the day.
But Osaka was no pushover, having proved her credentials by making the third round of all three Grand Slams she entered in 2016.
She also made her first WTA final, at Tokyo where she lost to Wozniacki, and was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year. — AFP
Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova hits a return against Russia’s Anna Blinkova during their women’s singles second round match on day four of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Jan. 19. — AFP
