Ostrava 2020: Thursday's Order of Play and Match Points

ORDER OF PLAY

CENTRE COURT -- 12:00 noon start
Ons JABEUR (TUN) vs. [WC] Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT)
[Q] Coco GAUFF (USA) vs. [3] Aryna SABALENKA (BLR)
Karolina MUCHOVA (CZE) vs. [7] Elise MERTENS (BEL)
Not before 6:00 pm
[Q] Veronika KUDERMETOVA (RUS) vs. [2] Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE)
[Q] Daria KASATKINA (RUS) vs. Jennifer BRADY (USA)

COURT 1 -- 2:00 p.m. start
Magda LINETTE (POL) / Jil TEICHMANN (SUI) vs. [2] Barbora KREJCIKOVA (CZE) / Katerina SINIAKOVA (CZE)
After suitable rest
[1] Elise MERTENS (BEL) / Aryna SABALENKA (BLR) vs. Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT) / Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS)

MATCH POINTS

Czech No.1 Karolina Pliskova

View Profile will make her Ostrava debut at the inaugural J&T Banka Ostrava Open when she faces Russian qualifier Veronika Kudermetova

View Profile on Thursday. The pair have split their two previous meetings; most recently, Kudermetova stunned Pliskova at the Western & Southern Open this summer for her first-ever win over a player ranked in the Top 3.

If World No.6 Pliskova can avenge her Western & Southern Open loss to Kudermetova, she will move into her fourth quarterfinal of the season. Pliskova's best results thus far in 2020 are a successful title defense in Brisbane and a runner-up showing in Rome. No.2 seed Pliskova has a 14-7 win-loss record this season.

No.3 seed Aryna Sabalenka

View Profile will play her first Ostrava match against American teenager Coco Gauff

View Profile . 16-year-old Gauff, who came through qualifying this week, outlasted Sabalenka in three tough sets in their only prior meeting, which took place this summer in Lexington.

2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko

View Profile and Ons Jabeur

View Profile will square off for the first time at a WTA event. They did meet once before at an ITF Challenger event in Poland in 2015, where Ostapenko prevailed in straight sets in a clay-court quarterfinal. Ostapenko earned the 20th Top 20 win of her career with a first-round upset of Petra Martic

View Profile on Wednesday.

No.7 seed Elise Mertens

View Profile and Karolina Muchova

View Profile will face off in their first-ever meeting on Thursday. With her first-round victory over Amanda Anisimova

View Profile , Mertens tied Elena Rybakina

View Profile for the most match-wins on tour so far this season (29).

Jennifer Brady and Daria Kasatkina

View Profile will also meet for the first time on Thursday. Brady's two most recent tournaments prior to this week were Grand Slam events: she fell in the first round at Roland Garros, but prior to that, she reached her first major semifinal at the US Open.