By Chris Oddo | Monday May 7, 2018
Karolina Pliskova edged Victoria Azarenka in a see-saw battle on Monday night in Madrid, booking a spot in the third round for the first time in her career.
Photo Source: Alex Grimm/Getty
Victoria Azarenka couldn’t pull out the upset in her first event since Miami and her first clay-court event in nearly two years. Instead it was sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova who rallied for a hard-fought 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 triumph on Monday to book a spot in the third round at the Mutua Madrid Open for the first time.
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The back-and-forth battle marked Pliskova’s second career victory over the Belarussian in five meetings.The Stuttgart champion entered 2018 with a 33-29 record on clay but appears to be a serious threat on the surface these days. Pliskova has gone 8-1 this season and if you stretch the sample size a bit further she has produced an impressive 14-3 record on clay since the start of Rome last season.
Even more impressive is the fact that Pliskova is now 7-0 in three-setters in 2018.
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On Monday the 26-year-old World No.6 didn’t play the perfect match but she was able to respond after a walkabout in the second set left the match hanging in the balance.
Azarenka, who defeated Elena Vesnina in round one for her first win on clay since the 2016 French Open, rallied from 3-0 down in the decider but she was broken while serving to force a tiebreaker when Pliskova cracked a second-serve return winner to convert her second match point.
In total Pliskova finished with 31 winners—including eight aces—to Azarenka’s 26. The Czech struck 44 unforced errors to Azarenka’s 38, and saved nine of 12 break points, including four of five in the final set.
Pliskova will take on Sloane Stephens as she seeks a spot into the Madrid quarterfinals for the first time. Stephens owns a 2-0 edge over Pliskova but the pair have not met since 2015.