Pliskova into third Eastbourne final, Kerber gets walkover

The final in Eastbourne will see Karolina Pliskova face Angelique Kerber, who benefited from Ons Jabeur's withdrawal.

Published : Jun 28, 2019 20:23 IST

Karolina Pliskova beat Kiki Bertens 6-1, 6-2 in the Eastbourne International semifinals.
Karolina Pliskova beat Kiki Bertens 6-1, 6-2 in the Eastbourne International semifinals.
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Karolina Pliskova beat Kiki Bertens 6-1, 6-2 in the Eastbourne International semifinals.

Karolina Pliskova reached her third final at the Nature Valley International with an emphatic win over Kiki Bertens, as Angelique Kerber progressed with a walkover.

A finalist in 2016 and champion in 2017, Pliskova has found Eastbourne to be a happy hunting ground again and needed just under an hour to rout Bertens.

She prevailed 6-1, 6-2 in a match in which she did not face a single break point, sending an ominous warning to Kerber, the reigning Wimbledon champion, who will be fresh after being given an unexpected day off.

Her opponent Ons Jabeur was forced to withdraw with an ankle injury suffered in her quarter-final win over Alize Cornet.

READ | Wimbledon draw: Youngest qualifier Cori Gauff faces Venus Williams in first round

Jabeur posted on Twitter: "Sorry but I had to pull out of Eastbourne semi-finals due to ankle injury of yesterday's match against Alize. 

"I hope to be ready for Wimbledon's 1st round. Thank you Eastbourne for such a great tournament."

 

"There has to be something in the air here, I'm so pleased with how I handled all the matches," Pliskova said after her match. 

"The score didn't show sometimes the tennis we played. I need to always play good tennis to beat Kiki, I lost to her at Wimbledon last year so I knew it was going to be tough."

On Kerber she added: "I think she's always great on grass, obviously last year she won Wimbledon so it's always super tough."

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