WTA: Tokyo Round-Up: Vekic takes Garcia out; Pliskova wins marathon game

Karolina Pliskova wins a real marathon match against Alison Riske. In the semi-final, she will face Donna Vekic, who defeated two seeded Caroline Garcia in two sets. Naomi Osaka and Camila Giorgi are also in the semi-finals.

Especially Pliskova had a hard time in her quarter-finals. It took a little less than three hours for the Czech player seeded four to be the winner. In the twelfth game of the decisive set, Pliskova even had to fend off two match points.

In the first run everything still looked like a smooth success of the world rankings. But in the following two sets she had a hard time with the US-American Riske. However, despite all difficulties Pliskova could use her third match point to win 6:1, 6:7 (5) and 7:6 (4).

In the semi-final, Pliskova will play Donna Vekic. The Croatian had little problem with Caroline Garcia from France and won 6-3 and 6-4, “In our last match I lost 6-7 in the last set. To win this game in two rounds means a lot to me,” said the world’s number 45.

The second semifinal in Tokyo is Naomi Osaka vs. Camila Giorgi. US Open winner Osaka again showed an impressive performance and beat Barbora Strycova 6:3 and 6:4. This success in front of her home crowd marks the ninth consecutive victory for the 20-year-old.

Osaka now face Camila Giorgi. The Italian, who had already eliminated defending champion Caroline Wozniacki in the round before, benefited in her quarter-final from a sick leave from her opponent Victoria Azarenka. The Belarussian woman had to give up from her point of view at 3:5 due to a gastrointestinal virus.

The tableau at a glance