
Pliskova to Face Martic in Zhengzhou Open Final
(September 14, 2019) Top seed Karolina Pliskova will take on No.7 seed Petra Martic in the final of the inaugural ICBC Credit Card Zhengzhou Open which is taking place at the Central Plains Tennis Centre this week.
Pliskova needed just 68 minutes to find a way past Ajla Tomljanovic, who showed signs of fatigue following her epic day of tennis on Friday which saw her play two singles matches plus a doubles match. Pliskova, ranked No.2 in the world, prevailed 6-3 6-2 over the Australian to book her place in her fifth final of the year.
“I think I was serving well, a lot of first serves, and I just feel quite well from the baseline now, despite a lot of matches, I feel like every time I play a little bit more I feel good. And I think she didn’t play actually that bad for compared to the score, it’s quite looks like easy, but for me it was not really easy,” said Pliskova.
Awaiting Pliskova in the final will be Martic who dropped only three games as she cruised to a 6-0 6-3 triumph over Kristina Mladenovic. It will be a first Premier level final for the Croatian who played flawless tennis in the 67-minute encounter and sealed victory with an ace.
“I’m really happy with how I played from the beginning until the end there. She raised her level in the second set and it was not easy for me to break her, but like I said, I went up 4-3 and that gave me a couple easy points and I converted them,” said Martic.
The singles final, which starts at 2pm (local time), will be followed by the doubles final between top seeds Nicole Melichar/Kveta Peschke and Yanina Wickmayer/Tamara Zidansek.
ICBC Credit Card Zhengzhou Open
September 9-15, 2019
Zhengzhou, China
$1,000,000
RESULTS – SEPTEMBER 14, 2019
Singles – Semifinals
[1] K. Pliskova (CZE) d A. Tomljanovic (AUS) 63 62
[7] P. Martic (CRO) d K. Mladenovic (FRA) 60 63
Doubles – Semifinals
[1] N. Melichar (USA) / K. Peschke (CZE) d D. Krawczyk (USA) / E. Perez (AUS) 64 46 12-10
ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
CENTRE COURT start 2:00 pm
Singles Final – [1] K. Pliskova (CZE) vs [7] P. Martic (CRO)
Doubles Final – [1] N. Melichar (USA) / K. Peschke (CZE) vs Y. Wickmayer (BEL) / T. Zidansek (SLO)