Second seed Pliskova arrests slump against Sherif to advance

[September 29, 2020]    PARIS (Reuters) - Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova managed to rein in her errors and found a way past battling Egyptian qualifier Mayar Sherif with a 6-7(9) 6-2 6-4 victory in the opening round of the French Open on Tuesday.

Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova in action during her first round match against Egypt’s Mayar Sherif REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Pliskova had 27 unforced errors and hit six double faults in the first set under the open roof of Court Philippe Chatrier as the 24-year-old Sherif, making her Grand Slam main draw debut, saved eight setpoints to win the opener in the tiebreaker.

Former world number one Pliskova improved drastically in the second to level the match with three breaks of her opponent's service games and a crucial break in the seventh game of the decider proved enough.

Pliskova, who retired in the final in Rome with injury before coming to Paris, sealed the match with an ace and will next meet 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko, who earlier defeated American Madison Brengle 6-2 6-1.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Andrew Heavens)

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.