Pliskova beats Lepchenko to reach Stanford final

Fourth-seeded Kaolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic was also victorious in the second round, defeating 44-year-old qualifier Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan 7-5, 6-2.

She’ll want her serve to be dominant towards Kerber, who confirmed no ailing results from her scintillating 2 hour 26 minute, three-set victory over No. 2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in Friday night time’s function quarterfinal.

Win or lose Pliskova will push herself into the top-10 for the first time when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Kerber, ranked No. 17 in the world, has won five of her past six matches at Stanford, with the lone loss coming against Serena Williams at last year’s final.

A victor of four WTA titles over the past two years, the 23-year-old Pliskova is looking for her first tournament win on U.S. soil and her first WTA premier event victory.

“Physically I wasn’t 100 percent”, Wozniacki said.

On Saturday, 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.

“Yeah, I felt it, but I think it brings me really more motivation to play better and to play better shots”, Svitolina said.

The 27-year-old German subsequently served out the match with just the fourth love game of the match, with Kerber having won 102 points and Radwanska 97.

“At the beginning of the year, I was sick and kept pushing through”, Lepchenko said. “But in the big picture of tennis I still have to go on the court and play well”. In her only real moment of resistance, Wozniacki followed up by scoring her only break of the match.

On the opposite side of the main draw, the only seed left alive is No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, who has yet to drop a set in two matches. “I really had to stick in there, because every time I got momentum and started hitting winners, it would start raining and I’d have to re-focus”.

“I need to attempt to return properly towards her huge serve”, stated Kerber. She made it to last year’s final before losing to Williams 7-6, 6-3, and she’ll face 20-year-old eighth seed Elina Svotolinato try to make it two straight. “I still thought I had enough to play and beat her. The ball was coming at me so fast I couldn’t get into a rhythm”.