PARIS, France - No.6 seed Karolina Pliskova turned around a 0-3 deficit in the second set to defeat fellow Czech Barbora Krejcikova in their French Open first round battle.
After edging through in a first set tiebreaker things started to get tricky in the second for Pliskova, but the former World No.1 managed to complete the comeback to win 7-6(6), 6-4.
Krejcikova, who battled through three rounds of qualifying to make her Grand Slam main draw debut in Paris this fortnight, did well to hang in the rallies with her countrywoman. She recovered admirably when Pliskova grabbed the first break and got ahead 2-0, breaking straight back to level things up.
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The pair traded breaks once again late in the set, with Pliskova breaking back at 6-6, to force a tiebreaker. They were toe-to-toe for most of the decider as well, with just one minibreak making the difference for Pliskova in the end.
Pliskova found things more complicated in the second set, when Krejcikova grabbed an early break and rocketed ahead to a 3-0 lead. But Pliskova righted the ship with some of her powerful serves - she only hit one ace during the match, but her first serve was firing and she claimed 75% of points off her first serve in the second set.
Pliskova went on to reel off five games in a row to turn around the deficit and close out the match after an hour and 40 minutes on court - ending just in time to dodge a spate of rain that would call of play for the rest of the day.
“I think at least a little bit lucky [to finish before the rain], because the conditions were not great for me today,” Pliskova said. “From the beginning of the match I felt, like, kind of slow. The conditions pretty humid and I felt like the water is in the air.
“I checked the forecast and it should be raining already like two hours before, I knew it was going to probably start rain during the match.”
Last year’s semifinalist, Pliskova was one of six players who started Roland Garros with a chance to rise to the No.1 ranking at the end of the fortnight. But her chances ended before she even stepped on court - Pliskova had to win the title, along with other results going her way, to return to the top. With Wozniacki advancing past the first round earlier in the day, Pliskova found herself out of the race for No.1.
Up next, Pliskova will take on another Czech player, Lucie Safarova, as she seeks to continue her career-best clay court season - highlighted with a title at Stuttgart and a run to the Madrid Open semifinals.
