15th seed Karolina Pliskova faced Misaki Doi in her second round match at Wimbledon. The Czech was on course to try to best her Slam record and standing in her way was Doi. The pair recently clashed with the Czech coming away with a straight sets victory. In fact, in five meetings the Japanese had only won once that too on clay, as she looked to overturn the previous result.
And that is what Doi did in impressive fashion. She grabbed the tightly contested first set with some relentless hitting. The Japanese only seemed to get better as the match went on, firing winners to eventually defeat Pliskova 7-6(5), 6-3.
Close set is settled by a tiebreak
Both ladies started with ease before the Pliskova serve was tested in the third game when Doi carved out a break point. The Czech defended well and managed to serve it out to level for 2-2. Pliskova then orchestrated play beautifully to get her first break points of the match. Doi narrowly missed the lined and allowed the Czech to break first to take a 3-2 lead. That lead immediately went to waste though as Doi’s persistence paid off as she found the break back at the fourth time of asking in a topsy-turvy sixth game.
The rest of the set went by without much issue for either player as they seemed to have found a foothold with their serves. It looked like the match was heading for a tiebreak until Doi stepped it up a notch doing damage with her forehand to earn double set points. Pliskova escaped the first as the Japanese’s shot went wide. Two huge serves came to her aid but she faced break point yet again. And in the ensuing rally, the Czech’s forehand found the corner to snuff out the chance as she survived to bring the set to a tiebreak.
The first point went the Czech’s way with Doi overcooking her shot. However, it was Pliskova’s turn to hit a wild one to allow Doi to draw level. The tiebreak went on serve till 3-2 for the Czech before the rain started pouring. After a brief stoppage in play, the match resumed and it was Doi who was off to a quick start racing to a 5-3 lead. Pliskova got it back on serve to 5-5 but the Japanese took the lead once more for her fourth set point. And this time, she went on to close out the set on her serve.
Doi in control
Doi was riding momentum with her shots finding the lines and corners as she got an immediate break to start the second set. Pliskova kept herself in the match to hold for 1-2. Not only was the Japanese winning the baseline battles, her serves were good as well giving Pliskova no chance to get the break back.
However, things changed in the eighth game as a rare forehand error handed the Czech a couple of break point. Pliskova though failed to convert on both occasions but another opportunity loomed after a wild shot from the Japanese. The 15th seed sent her shot straight into the net and Doi went on to regain control to pull away for a 5-3 lead.
The pressure was back on Pliskova and it was telling as she struggled with her first serves. The Japanese blasted a fiery forehand return created a couple of match point. The Czech could do nothing much as a monstrous forehand from Doi sealed the match.