By Chris Oddo | Saturday September 3, 2016
For more than 18 months, she has been one of the WTA’s more promising, lethal players. For 18 months she had failed to make her breakthrough at a major.
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Many wondered if Karolina Pliskova, the tour’s ace leader and a scout’s dream that is long on easy power, would ever reach the second week of a major. This week at the U.S. Open, she has.
Pliskova produced a sterling performance on Day 6 against the very talented Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, winning 6-2, 6-4 and ending a run of 17 majors without a trip to the fourth round.
“Finally, I made it,” Pliskova said in an on-court interview after her win.
Now that she’s made it, talk turns to: How far can she go?
After trouncing the field to win her biggest career title at Cincinnati two weeks ago, Pliskova, a tall, rangy and powerful right-hander, has won nine matches in a row.
That makes her one of the hottest players on tour. Add to that the fact that she’s travelling under the radar in New York and we have the perfect recipe for follow-through.
“I was confident about this match.” Pliskova told reporters after the win. “I also knew I've been playing some good tennis last few weeks, all the matches actually what I've played. So I felt good. There was not any reason for me to think about it, that I will lose this match today. So I was confident about it. Just happy that also on the court I could handle the situations…”
Pliskova spent a spell inside the Top 10 in 2015, but has slipped in the rankings this season, bottoming out at No. 20 in the clay season. But a sudden rise in form that resulted in a title at Nottingham, a final at Eastbourne and another title in Cincinnati this summer has put her back on the cusp of the Top 10.
Pliskova says she needed time to find her best form at the majors. In the past, she says, she let her opponents dictate too many of the terms. “To be honest, the Grand Slams before, I wasn't feeling bad, any of them,” she said. “But just somehow the game on the court wasn't the way I wanted it to be. I was just a little bit tight, I wasn't playing my tennis, wasn't aggressive enough. If I'm not playing my game, I cannot beat those players like this. I cannot be the one who is running.”
Pliskova, who leads the tour with 428 aces this season, stayed on the attack against Pavlyuchenkova, hitting 31 winners to just 19 for the Russian.
“I’m happy I kept my game plan and was still playing aggressive today,” she said.
Pliskova will face either Venus Williams or Laura Siegemund in the round of 16 on Monday. With the monkey off her back, she could be a very dangerous player in week two.