By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday June 15 2022
Bianca Andreescu gave Karolina Pliskova all she could handle on Wednesday at the Bett1 Open in Berlin, but the Canadian could not finish off the Czech in Berlin, and ended up falling in a third-set tiebreak, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(7).
Pliskova, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, walked the tightrope against the 21-year-old Canadian but was able to avoid falling double break down in the third set with some clutch serving. From there she was able to turn things around and squeeze out the victory in two hours and 11 minutes.
“I think there was a little bit of everything in this match,” the former World No.1 said. “Of course I'm super-proud that I was able to turn the match around, because I was losing in the third set. I thought she was a little bit better in the second and third sets, but I think I stayed in there and I fought and I got my chances in the end.”
Pliskova improves to 45-20 lifetime on grass and reaches the quarterfinals on her debut; Andreescu falls to 2-5 lifetime on the grass but can hold her head high after outplaying one of the best in the sport for much of the contest.
Andreescu served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, and at that point of the decider she had not dropped a single point on serve. She lost four of the next five points and with them her hold on the match.
Andreescu finished with 34 winners against 31 unforced errors while Pliskova hit 28 winners against 31 unforced. The Canadian won 100 points against 98 for the Czech, but she simply couldn’t close the match out when she had her chance.
Pliskova will face either Coco Gauff or Wang Xinyu in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Gauff Opens Grass Season with a Win
Gauff eased past compatriot Ann Li 6-2, 7-6(2) to book her spot in the second round on Wednesday.
Gauff had some hiccups while serving for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set, but got it done in the tiebreak to improve to 21-11 on the season and 8-3 lifetime on grass.
Maria Sakkari (d. Daria Saville) and Aliaksandra Sasnovich (d. Andrea Petkovic) also reached the quarterfinals on Wednesday in Berlin.
Sakkari will face Daria Kasatkina, the Russian coming through against compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.