STARNBERG, August 12, 2020

Kristyna Pliskova headlined Wednesday’s second round action at the Prague Open by upsetting the tournament’s No. 2 seed Petra Martic from Croatia. The World No. 69 from the Czech Republic sent down nine aces, saved all three break points she faced and capitalized on three of her own break point chances to seal a 6-1, 7-5 victory in one hour and 21 minutes.

.@KrisPliskova moves 🔛

She takes it over Martic, 6-1, 7-5. #PragueOpen2020 pic.twitter.com/WDFdee3zcc

— wta (@WTA) August 12, 2020

“I feel I’m playing better on clay each year,” said Pliskova, quoted by the WTA website. The 28-year-old finished runner-up at the 2017 Prague Open. “Everybody was saying I cannot move and stuff, but I don’t think it’s like this – I have more time, so it’s good for me that clay is not that fast, I can focus on my game.

“We grew up on clay, we practised on clay, we played every tournament on clay, and everybody was saying we would be better on grass or hard courts – but I was still thinking my preference was that it was slow. So then I started working a bit on the movement and other things, not just the serve and return – now I’m getting more confident on clay.”

Pliskova will next take on Ana Bogdan of Romania, who received a walkover from No. 5 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. The Ukrainian was forced to withdraw from the match due to a left rib injury.

Later at the venue of the TK Sparta Praha, Elise Mertens defeated Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-4, 6-2. The third seed from Belgium broke her opponent’s serve four times to advance to the quarterfinals after one hour and 43 minutes. Up next of Mertens will be either Canadian wild card entry Eugenie Bouchard or Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia.