The sole WTA Premier 5 tournament in the United States, the Western & Southern Open took place in Cincinnati, Ohio last weekend. Karolina Pliskova saw her US Open preparations take a boost when she became the first Czech to take home the title, thus capturing her sixth and biggest trophy to date.
The win sends Pliskova close to a top 10 return as she overtakes Petra Kvitova to become the highest-ranked Czech player, ending her older compatriot’s dominant reign of more than five years as the Czech number one.
Last week’s titlist
2015 was a breakthrough season for the tall and slender 24-year-old Czech Karolina Pliskova as she made six finals, with four coming at the Premier level or better. Her only title came on home soil in Prague on the red dirt as she beat compatriot Lucie Hradecka for the trophy. She also made her top 10 debut, peaking at seventh in the rankings during the US Open Series after a runner-up finish at the Bank of the West Classic. The Czech was also crowned US Open Series champion after making the last eight in New Haven and the last sixteen in Cincinnati. Pliskova ended the year as number 11.
This year however has been comparatively underwhelming one for the Czech. She had only registered two final appearances prior to Cincinnati, compared to the four she recorded in the same period last year. Both of those finals came on grass, where she took home the Nottingham title and finished runner-up in Eastbourne. Other results of note include reaching quarterfinals in Sydney and the last four in Indian Wells. At the Grand Slams, she was unable to break through to a maiden round of 16 appearance as she won just three matches through the first three Grand Slams.
Earlier this month, Pliskova opted to skip the Olympics where she slated to play singles and doubles, alongside Lucie Safarova. Her last appearance on the tour was the Rogers Cup where she was sent packing by eventual champion Simona Halep in the round of 16.
The Olympic withdrawal proved to be a good move as the Czech was untroubled in her opening two matches in Cincinnati, overpowering Jelena Ostapenko in her opener before avenging her second round loss at Wimbledon to Misaki Doi, thus booking her place in the last eight.
She then went on an absolute tear, beating a trio of top 10 opposition in seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, fourth seed Garbiñe Muguruza and in the final, second seed Angelique Kerber. She lost her only set of the week in the quarterfinals against Kuznetsova but dropped just four games in her quality wins over Muguruza and Kerber. Her win over Kerber in the final denied the German a chance to topple Serena Williams for the world number one ranking.
All sixteen seeds in the draw this year received a first round bye. Three seeds left Cincinnati winless, namely 13th seed Belinda Bencic, 14th seed Samantha Stosur and 17th seed Elina Svitolina. Sixth seed Roberta Vinci and eighth seed Dominika Cibulkova were the only top eight seeds who failed to make the last eight.
All eight quarterfinalists were seeded except qualifier Timea Babos of Hungary, who beat Cibulkova in the round of 16. Kuznetsova, alongside Babos, fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska and ninth seed Carla Suárez Navarro all recorded quarterfinal appearances. Third seed Halep saw her winning streak of 13 matches come to an end, after she was brushed aside in the semifinals by Kerber.
Rankings
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This week’s rankings will be used to determine the seedings for the US Open. Radwanska moves up one spot to number four after an improved performance in Cincinnati where she reached the last eight, having dropped out in the first round last year. Pliskova leaps six places from 17th to 11th after winning Cincinnati. Barbora Strycova and Doi record new career-high rankings of 19th and 32nd respectively after making the round of 16 in Cincinnati. Right behind Doi is Babos who is at a new career-high ranking of 33rd.
Moving down the list, Australia’s Daria Gavrilova goes up from 47th to 45th after reaching the round of 16 in Cincinnati as a qualifier. Fellow qualifier Alizé Cornet, who went winless in Cincinnati last year, is back in the top 50, rising from 58th to 47th after making the second round.
Among the players who experience dips in the ranking are Halep who swaps places with Radwanska after failing to match her 2015 result in Cincinnati where was the runner-up, she lost in the last four. Svitolina, who was a semifinalist last year, slides from 17th to 23rd after dropping her opener.
2015 quarterfinalist Ana Ivanovic is out of the top 30 after failing to win a match this year, dropping six spots to 31st. Fellow 2015 quarterfinalist Safarova, who also lost her first round match, dives seven spots to 35th. The other semifinalist from 2015, Jelena Jankovic, falls from 29th to 41st after missing out the tournament this year with an injury.
Meanwhile, Andrea Petkovic and Varvara Lepchenko, who both reached the round of 16 last year, fall from 42nd to 44th and 54th to 69th respectively. Petkovic fell in the second round while Lepchenko lost in qualifying. The biggest decline came in Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. The Slovak was a quarterfinalist last year but took a 29-spot-nosedive after crashing out in qualifying as her 2016 slump continues.
Road to Singapore
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In recent news, Serena Williams and Kerber, who are currently first and second in the race to the WTA Finals, become the first two players to secure their berths at the year-ending championship. Suárez Navarro improves one spot to seventh after making the last eight in Cincinnati, pushing Madison Keys down to eighth. Right behind Keys is Pliskova, the Czech cutting her position in the race by half, rising from 17th to ninth. Babos makes inroads in the race as well, advancing into the top 20, from 22nd to 19th.
Meanwhile, Doi cracks the top 30 standings, improving from 35th to 30th. Gavrilova goes up four spots from 40th to 36th while German Annika Beck improves from 43rd to 38th, after successfully qualifying and making the second round in Cincinnati.
This week’s action
The week before the US Open commences sees the city of New Haven host the Connecticut Open, which already in the midst of proceeedings. Top seeds Radwanska and Vinci along with defending champion Kvitova spearhead the draw. This tournament will be the final leg of the US Open Series.