No. 11 Pliskova beats Tomljanovic, reaches semis at Stanford

Karolina Plistova of the Czech Republic staved off a second-set rally by unseeded Varvara Lepchenko Saturday for a 6-2, 7-5 victory that put her in the final of the Bank of the West Classic.

Today, Pliskova will meet the victor of a later match between No. 60 Varvara Lepchenko of the United States and No. 63 Mona Barthel of Germany. As the modest crowd swelled in numbers as the match wore on, the better Lepchenko played. I can change a few things.

“I took some time to get back into shape”, Lepchenko said.

She’s been to three Premier-level finals before, all earlier this year, but she’s fallen just short each time, at Sydney (to Petra Kvitova), Dubai (to Simona Halep) and Birmingham (to Angelique Kerber).

Pliskova averaged 105 miles per hour on her first serve and had five aces en route to winning 81 percent of her first-serve points. The German swatted young top prospects, Daria Gavrilova and Ana Konjuh aside before edging (7/2) Agnieszka Radwanska 46 64 64 in the quarters as I predicted she would.

If her serve continues to mature in live performance together with her all-around recreation, she’ll be an elite participant on the Grand Slam degree earlier than lengthy. “This couldn’t be a better start to the hardcourt season, and I hope I can build off this”.

Bidding for her first title since Montreal last summer, the second-seeded Radwanska will play Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.

The fifth-seeded Kerber, of Germany, advanced to the final with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in a match that lasted 55 minutes.

Thiem led 7-6 (3), 3-2 when Montanes, who received medical treatment on his left ankle in the opening set, quit the quarterfinal, while Kohlschreiber defeated the third-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-6 (0), 6-4. It was her first match since Wimbledon, where she made it to the fourth round before losing to Garbine Muguruza in straight sets. It’s good to see I can translate that from the practice court to the playing court.

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki wasn’t as successful. And when Lepchenko went up 4-1, a reeling Wozniacki requested to conference with her coach. “We had a battle last year at the U.S. Open. It doesn’t matter if you’re three sets or two sets, it’s just win the match and job done”. She’s focusing her attention on the US Open and finishing among the top eight for a chance at the Tour Championships in Singapore.