Pliskova Crowned Zhengzhou Open Champion, Melichar/Peschke Claim Doubles Title
Peterson and Hibino also take titles in Asia
(September 15, 2019) Top seed Karolina Pliskova defeated Petra Martic 6-3 6-2 to be crowned the inaugural ICBC Credit Card Zhengzhou Open singles champion in a rain-affected final at the Central Plain Tennis Centre on Sunday.
The world No.2 overcame a slow start, which saw her broken in her opening service game, to win three games on the trot and lead 3-2. Once her trademark serve and powerful groundstrokes started firing there was little world No.23 Martic could do, succumbing to a straight sets defeat in a match which lasted one hour 36 minutes. The final started almost six hours late due to heavy rain and featured two further rain delays during the match.
It marked a fourth trophy of the year for Pliskova, and her first career title in China, and gives her ranking a boost as she bids to reclaim the No.1 spot.
“I think not really good start for me, but on the other hand I think she played great the first couple games, so I was just struggling a little bit. Pretty much everything I gave today and then under the lights it’s not always what you want or what you are just used to. So of course all the day of waiting here today, also in the week, the weather was not perfect. But somehow I managed, even the break which we had when it was 2-0 I think it helped me just to stay calm. And I talked to Olga [Savchuk] a little bit and I really started after better just being more aggressive, serving better and after everything kind of worked out,” said Pliskova.
It was also a good week for Martic, who is enjoying the best year of her career, as it marked a first final at Premier level for the Croatian.
“This week was big for me, really important for my career and gave me a lot of confidence. I beat some really good players and I think this can only help me going forward. She [Pliskova] made my life pretty difficult out there today. She was serving great, she has one of the best serves on tour, I think, and when that’s on, it’s really tough to play her. So, yeah, I mean yet another title for her and it’s really well deserved,” said Martic.
Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke overcame a spirited challenge from Yanina Wickmayer and Tamara Zidansek, who were playing together for the first time this week, in the doubles final to record a 6-1 7-6(2) victory and claim their fifth team title. The doubles final took place inside due to the inclement weather.
“We are very happy we could win today. For us it was the first match indoors, basically, it was a little bit unfortunate with the weather, the rain came. But we both like to actually play indoors, so it was maybe a little bit in our favor too,” said Peschke. “We wanted just to concentrate on our game and game plan, which I think we did. The second set was definitely a little bit tougher than the first one, but we stuck to our plan and had a good finish to it.”
RESULTS – SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
Singles – Final
[1] K. Pliskova (CZE) d [7] P. Martic (CRO) 63 62
Doubles – Final
[1] N. Melichar (USA) / K. Peschke (CZE) d Y. Wickmayer (BEL) / T. Zidansek (SLO) 61 76(2)
Jiangxi Open
September 9-15, 2019
Nanchang, China
$250,000
RESULTS – SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
Singles – Final
[5] R. Peterson (SWE) d [4] E. Rybakina (KAZ) 62 60
Doubles – Final
X. Wang (CHN) / L. Zhu (CHN) d [2] S. Peng (CHN) / S. Zhang (CHN) 62 76(5)
Final Facts:
• In her first ever WTA final, No.5 seed Rebecca Peterson lifted the Nanchang title by defeating No.4 seed Elena Rybakina
• Peterson dropped just one set all week, against No.3 seed Magda Linette in the quarterfinals
• Rybakina was appearing in her second career Tour-level final, having clinched her first title at the BRD Bucharest Open earlier this year
• In an all-Chinese doubles final, Wang Xinyu and Zhu Lin defeated the No.2 seeds Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai in their career first WTA doubles final
• In the opening round, Wang and Zhu knocked out the top seeds Aleksandra Krunic and Lidziya Marozava
Hana-cupid Japan Women’s Open
September 9-15, 2019
Hiroshima, Japan
$250,000
RESULTS – SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
Singles – Final
N. Hibino (JPN) d M. Doi (JPN) 63 62
Doubles – Final
M. Doi (JPN) / N. Hibino (JPN) d C. McHale (USA) / V. Savinykh (RUS) 36 64 10-4
Final Facts
• Hibino wins her second WTA title, having previously triumphed at Tashkent in 2015; she improves to 2-3 in finals.
• Hibino dropped two sets en route to the title, including coming back from 7-6 5-3 down in the first round against qualifier Fernandez.
• Doi was appearing in her first final in over three years; her record in WTA singles finals slips to 1-2, having previously won Luxembourg in 2015 and finished runner-up at Kaohsiung in 2016.
• It was the first all-Japanese singles final since 1997, when Sawamatsu defeated Yoshida in Jakarta.
• Doi and Hibino then teamed up win their first WTA doubles title together; Doi now has two WTA doubles titles to her name, while Hibino also has two.
