Pliskova battles back to reach fourth round
A FINALIST AT THE LAST US OPEN, PLISKOVA CAPITALIZED ON THAT PIVOTAL FOREHAND TO AVOID WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A CRUSHING DEFEAT.
As Zhang Shuai stepped to the baseline Saturday, needing one good serve to knock off Karolina Pliskova, the world’s No. 1 player, she did so with experience.
In 2009, when she was ranked 226th, Zhang defeated the No. 1 player at the time, Dinara Safina, in a shocking upset at the China Open in Beijing. Like Safina, Pliskova is a top-ranked player who has never won a Grand Slam event, adding more pressure to the moment, especially in such an early round.
“I know all the opponents are behind me,” Pliskova said of the rankings, “so I should win every match, which is tough.”
Facing a match point against her after almost two sets of uneven tennis, Pliskova moved to her right knowing that she had converted only two successful forehands down the line to that point. But with her tennis fortunes hanging in the balance and all the pressure of failing to live up to her lofty ranking, Pliskova had little choice but to go for broke.
Without hesitation, she drew her racket back on the move and hammered a piercing forehand down the line. Zhang, now ranked 26th, could not handle it, and the shot heard ‘round Arthur Ashe Stadium changed the third-round match.
And it might shape the outcome of the women’s draw.
A finalist at the last US Open, Pliskova capitalized on that pivotal forehand to win, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, to avoid what would have been a crushing defeat.
“I didn’t have any other choice,” she said of the decision to go down the line. “I just went through it and prayed that it’s going to be in. And it was in.”
Her victory set up a fourthround matchup against Jennifer Brady, a 22-year-old American. Brady, who earned a spot in the round of 16 this year at the Australian Open in her debut appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, defeated Monica Niculescu, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3), on a lively Court 17.
Brady joined No. 20 CoCo Vandeweghe as two of four Americans on Saturday’s card to advance.
Vandeweghe showed continued seasoning under her new coach, Pat Cash, to beat No. 10 Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. She will play the unseeded Lucie Safarova in the fourth round.
Shelby Rogers, from South Carolina, lost to No. 4 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 6-4, 7-5.