Section:GDN 1N PaGe:45 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 21:24 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
Sport^45
Tennis US OpenPliskova cruises into third round
with ambition of going the distance
Kevin Mitchell
Flushing MeadowsKarolina Pliskova – the better of the
two Czech sisters – always gives
the impression she is about to make
a major statement in her sport, yet
too often fails to deliver. Still, the
world No 3 has cruised into the third
round of the 2019 US Open, the fi rst
to get there because of the rain delays
yesterday , and she looks in the mood
to go further.
Pliskova took 66 minutes to beat the
Georgian qualifi er Mariam Bolkvadze
6-1, 6-4 and said courtside: “I’m for
sure happy that my serve was better
than in the fi rst match,” referring to
her error-strewn struggle to overcome
her compatriot Tereza Martincova in
two nerve-jangling tie-breaks.
In that match on Monday, her
renowned serve did not click to her
satisfaction, although she still had toohitting a peak of 116mph, and when
she needed a second serve it was
similarly potent. She broke serve
four times and hit 19 clean winners.
Bolkvadze’s average speed was just
under a 100mph on fi rst serve, and
Pliskova was able to get 41 of 51 returns
in at fi rst attempt.
The fi rst set sped by in 20 minutes
but, as Pliskova observed afterwards,
her opponent’s resistance stiff ened in
the second. She at least got a decent
workout before her third match tomor-
row – and Bolkvadze, Georgia’s best
player, got probably her best pay-
day: $100,000 (£82,000) for reaching
the second round after beating the
American Bernarda Pera on Monday.
For Pliskova, this tournament has
always seemed to be the perfect place
to break through. She likes the fast
courts and the atmosphere but, at 27,
it is time she cashed in on her talent
after nine previous visits. Much was
expected of her when she beat Laura
Robson to win the junior title at the
Australian Open in 2010 – then again,
the same was said about Robson. The
Tour is an unforgiving battlefi eld.
It took Pliskova four years to get past
the fi rst round and she reached the
fi nal three years ago, when, as the fi rst
Czech in a New York fi nal since Helena
Sukova in 1993, she found Angelique
Kerber in one of her more determined
moods, losing in three sets.
Pliskova made the quarter-fi nals
in the past two years, losing against
the American Coco Vandeweghe in
2017 and Serena Williams last year.
So the New York momentum is there.
Having reached the quarters at Roland
Garros in 2017, where she lost against
the eventual champion, Simona Halep,
and the semi-fi nals in Melbourne this
year, where Naomi Osaka stopped her
on the way to winning the title, she
has come within touching distance of
beating the best when it matters.
Pliskova, whose twin, Krystina,
is 86 in the world, married Michal
Hrdlička last year and took his name- so offi cially she is a Pliskova no more,
although she will always have that
trademark serve, silky smooth and
menacing when it is on song.
Here, she has drawn seriously well
in the early rounds but the fi fth seed
Elina Svitolina is in her quarter of the
draw and a rejuvenated Ashleigh Barty
might bar her way to the last weekend.
But Pliskova has found some excellent
form and will be a threat in the fi rst
week, perhaps the second as well.
Riding a storm
Nishikori
wobbles but
wins through
Tumaini Carayol
Flushing MeadowsOn a rain-swept afternoon at Flushing
Meadows, Kei Nishikori survived a
fourth-set wobble to move into the
third round of the US Open with a
6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 win against the home
favourite Bradley Klahn.
The seventh seed was prepared
for a diffi cult duel against his big-
serving left -handed opponent and,after a simple fi rst set, a battle is what
transpired. The American responded
energetically, striking 14 winners and
winning 100% of points behind his
second serve to level the match.
Nishikori often conducts his busi-
ness quietly, but throughout the
third set he was visibly stressed as he
attempted to ward off the American
challenger. Even as he broke through
to lead 4-3 in the third set, Nishikori
needed to save break point with a
slick serve and volley and began to
bark loud cheers towards his box,
attempting to hype himself up in front
of a packed and partisan crowd.
Nishikori is a complete player of
wondrous talent, and by the fourth
set he seemed to be enjoying himself
as winners fl owed from his racquet.
He began to chase the net, winning
10 of 11 net points and showing off his
complete game with a series of slick
volleyed winners. It seemed that thematch was his. But as he moved to a
5-1 lead, he became undone.
Serving for the match at both 5-2
and then 5-4, Nishikori double-faulted
on break point both times and lost four
successive games. But he turns 30 at
the end of this year and the No 7 has
been around for a long time, even
if his talent has not yet yielded any
grand slam titles. The Japanese player
regrouped swiftly and then broke
again to seal an important victory.“I knew it was gonna be tough one
because he has a great serve,” Nishikori
said. “He did it today. He served well.
Little bit of lost focus after 5-1. He was
serving better too. Happy to win .”
The ATP announced it has opened a
second investigation into Nick Kyrgios
after comments made following his
first-round victory against Steve
Johnson, which concluded in the early
hours of yesterday morning. Kyrgios
was fi ned $113,000 this month for a
series of code violations at the West-
ern & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
When asked to discuss the incident
in New York, Kyrgios said: “The ATP is
pretty corrupt anyway. I’m not fussed
about it at all.”
The ATP will determine whether
Kyrgios’s “corrupt” comments con-
stitute a “major player off ence”. If
found guilty, he could be liable for
a $100,000 fi ne and/or a maximum
suspension of three years.Rugby unionVunipola’s
hopes lifted
but Nowell
‘touch and go’
Mako Vunipola, whose injury was the
sole blight on England’s record 57-15
demolition of Ireland at Twickenham,
has a small tear of scar tissue in his
hamstring that will need 10 days of
rehabilitation to heal, meaning he will
miss the fi nal warm-up game before
the World Cup.
His likely recovery for the World Cup
will be a huge relief for Eddie Jones as
his England squad fl y out to Treviso
to continue their preparations for the
tournament in Japan next month with
a fi nal warm-up match, against Italy on
6 September at St James’ Park.
Ben Moon has been called up
to Jones’s squad as a temporary
replacement for Vunipola, who needed
surgery to reattach tendons after
tearing his hamstring for Saracens
in May.
Vunipola’s prognosis may be
welcomed by the England camp but
Jack Nowell’s chances of playing in
Japan are “touch and go”, according
to his club coach, Rob Baxter. The
26-year-old wing injured his ankle in
Exeter’s Premiership fi nal defeat by
Saracens in June, but was included in
England’s 31-man squad.
“I think he’s going to be touch and
go for involvement in the World Cup,”
Baxter told BBC Radio Devon. “But
let’s cross our fi ngers and hope that
he can come through.”
After facing Italy, England fl y to
Japan on 8 September. They begin
their campaign against Tonga on Sun-
day 22 September.
New Zealand have named their
World Cup squad without the
Northamp ton prop Owen Franks. The
tighthead, who has played 108 Tests
for the All Blacks, is replaced in the
front row by the 24-year-old Atu Moli
of the Waikato Chiefs.
Also failing to survive Steve Hansen’s
cut is the powerful centre Ngani
Laumape, with Anton Lienert-Brown,
Sonny Bill Williams, Jack Goodhue and
Ryan Crotty preferred. The defend-
ing champions New Zealand begin
their tournament against South
Africa in Yokahama on 21 September.
PA Media
much power for the 25-year-old quali-
fi er ranked 138 in the world.
Bolkvadze is ranked 202 in the
world and gave Pliskova only token
resistance, although the winner was
gracious enough to say: “I think she
was playing quite solid in the second
set. She was starting to get in there,
so I’m happy that I just stayed in and
held my serve.”
Pliskova will need a little more atti-
tude when the opposition gets tougher
than this. Although the women’s game
is more volatile than it has been for
many years, there is still a gulf in class
between the elite and the also-rans;
no way were either Martincova or
Bolkvadze going to inconvenience an
opponent who has operated in much
better company for several years now.
She struck nine aces past Bolkvadze- who beat Heather Watson in the
quali fi ers – and gave her just one
double fault, to win 26 of 29 points on
fi rst serve. That is irresistible serving,
▲ Kei Nishikori saw off the home
favourite Bradley Klahn in New YorkMen: Singles: First round: A Hoang (Fr) bt L Mayer
(Arg) 3-6 6-2 6-7 (6) 6-1 6-3; N KYRGIOS (Aus, 28) bt
S Johnson (US) 6-3 7-6 (1) 6-4; G MONFILS (Fr, 13) bt
A Ramos Viñolas (Sp) 7-6 (2) 6-4 6-3; M Copil (Rom) bt
U Humbert (Fr) 6-3 5-7 7-6 (11) 4-6 6-1; H Laaksonen
(Swi) bt M Cecchinato (It) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (6) 2-6 3-6 7-6 (2);
D Shapovalov (Can) bt F AUGER-ALIASSIME (Can, 18)
6-1 6-1 6-4; A ZVEREV (Ger, 6) bt R Albot (Mol) 6-1 6-3
3-6 4-6 6-2; F Tiafoe (US) bt I Karlovic (Cro) 6-2 6-3 1-2
ret; A Bedene (Svn) bt J Kovalik (Svk) 6-3 6-4 7-5;
B PAIRE (Fra, 29) bt B Schnur (Can) 6-2 6-4 6-4;
D SCHWARTZMAN (Arg, 20) bt R Haase (Neth) 6-3 7-6
(6) 6-0; E Gerasimov (Blr) bt LG Harris (SA) 7-5 7-6 (5)
7-6 (3); T Sandgren (US) bt J-W Tsonga (Fr) 1-6 6-7 (2)
6-4 7-6 (5) 7-5; V Pospisil (Can) bt K KHACHANOV (Rus,
9) 4-6 7-5 7-5 4-6 6-3; J ISNER (US, 14) bt G García-
López (Sp) 6-3 6-4 6-4; T Kokkinakis (Aus) bt I Ivashka
(Blr) 6-3 7-6 (8) 6-7 (4) 6-2; R NADAL (Sp, 2) bt John
Millman (Aus) 6-3 6-2 6-2
Second round: K NISHSIKORI (Jpn, 7) bt B Klahn (US)
6-2 4-6 6-3 7-5; R FEDERER (Swi, 3) bt D Dzumhur (Bos)
3-6 6-2 6-3 6-4
Women: Singles: First round: C Gauff (US) bt A Potapova
(Rus) 3-6 6-2 6-4; T Babos (Hun) bt C SUÁREZ NAVARRO
(Sp, 28) 6-2 ret; A Cornet (Fr) bt J Pegula (US) 6-2 6-3;
A SABALENKA (Blr, 9) bt V Azarenka (Blr) 3-6 6-3 6-4;
D VEKIC (Cro, 23) bt R Hogenkamp (Neth) 7-6 (4) 6-3;
A Kalinskaya (Rus) bt S STEPHENS (US) 6-3 6-4;
A Bolsova (Sp) bt B STRYCOVA (Cz, 31) 6-3 0-6 6-1;
S Cirstea (Rom) bt K Siniakova (Cz) 7-5 6-2
Second round: K PLISKOVA (Cz, 3) bt M Bolkvadze (Geo)
6-1 6-4Results
Mako Vunipola
will need 10 days
of rehabilitation▼ Karolina Pliskova took
66 minutes to beat Mariam
Bolkvadze in New York
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