Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic during their women's singles tennis match at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships Thursday. — Reuters DUBAI — For the second consecutive week, Karolina Pliskova advanced to the semifinals of a tournament by beating Lucie Safarova.
On Thursday at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Pliskova recovered from a set and a service break down to win 3-6, 7-6 (5) 6-1.
The 18-year-old Pliskova, seeded 17th, defeated Safarova in straight sets last week in Antwerp, Belgium.
“I'm really happy that I was able to achieve this,” said Pliskova, conscious that Safarova was seeking revenge for defeat in Antwerp and had been buoyed by a straight sets win over titleholder Venus Williams the day before. Pliskova will next face unseeded Garbine Muguruza in the semifinals. The 24th-ranked Muguruza beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3. “I had three set points in the first set so I was sad,” Muguruza said. “I said if I want to win this match I cannot play bad. I knew I would have options to win the match if I won the second set.”
Simona Halep of Romania defeated Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 in a late match. She will play either Caroline Wozniacki or Flavia Pennetta.
Lu upsets Anderson
In Florida, Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun upset top-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-6 (6), 6-3 Wednesday night in chilly conditions in the second round of the Delray Beach Open.
The 31-year-old Lu set up a quarterfinal match against fifth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Denis Kudla of nearby Boca Raton. Ranked 61st, Lu is seeking his first ATP Tour title.
Fourth-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia also advanced, outlasting 18-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2). Karlovic, the 6-foot-11 Croatian who will turn 36 at the end of the month, will face seventh-seeded Steve Johnson in the quarterfinals. Johnson topped 17-year-old wild-card Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 6-3.
Anderson's ouster, together with second-seeded John Isner's loss to Marinko Matosevic Tuesday night, marked the first time the top two seeds have lost before the quarterfinals since 2006. It also was the 22nd time in the tournament's 23-year history that the top seed failed to win the tournament. Mardy Fish in 2009 was the only No. 1 to capture the title.
Lu played a consistent, no-frills style of tennis that forced Anderson to take chances. The South African, who lives and trains in Delray Beach, was ineffective in his service games as Lu bunted reflex returns back into the court.
Agut, Monfils in quarters
In France, fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and No. 7 Gael Monfils of France both won in straight sets to reach the Open 13 quarterfinals Wednesday.
The 16th-ranked Bautista Agut broke Canadian Vasek Pospisil's serve twice in a 7-5, 6-4 win, and next faces either sixth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium or Austria's Dominic Thiem.
Monfils had 13 aces, saving all three break-points he faced, as he beat Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-2.
Sergiy Stakhovsky also advanced to the last eight — with 15 aces in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win against Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff.
In remaining first-round matches, No. 5 Gilles Simon of France was leading 7-5, 2-0 against Pierre-Hugues Herbert when his countryman retired with a shoulder injury. Goffin broke Polish player Jerzy Janowicz's serve four times in a 6-4, 6-2 win and Bolelli beat countryman Luca Vanni 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Begu thru, Robredo falls
Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania reached the quarterfinals of the Rio Open Wednesday, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-2, 6-4.
Several other seeded players also advanced to the quarterfinals at the WTA-ATP event, South America's biggest clay-court tournament. No. 5 Johanna Larsson of Sweden defeated local hope Gabriela Ce 7-6 (4), 6-4, Germany's Dinah Pfizenmaier beat No. 4 Madison Brengle 7-5, 0-6, 7-5 and Julia Glushko of Israel defeated Grace Min of the United States 6-3, 6-1.
In first-round matches, No. 6 Anna Schmiedlova beat Alison Van Uytvanck 6-3, 6-0 and Polona Hercog defeated An-Sophie Mestach 6-3, 6-4.
On the men's side, Austria's Andreas Haider-Maurer defeated third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. Unseeded Juan Monaco of Argentina also made the last eight, beating Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 7-6 (4).
No. 2 David Ferrer was leading 7-6 (8), 2-0 when Thiemo De Bakker retired from their second-round match, while Joao Souza beat Blaz Rola 6-4, 6-7 (9), 6-4. — Agencies
