Hibino to take on Pliskova in Finals of Tashkent Open

30 September 2016

Current Title Holder  and fourth seeded Nao Hibino of Japan  will take on unseeded player  Kristyna Pliskova  of the Czech Republic  in the Women's Singles Finals of the 18th edition of the Tashkent Open WTA Championships being played at the Olympic  tennis School in Tashkent.

In the semifinals played today Hibino played steady  , composed and quick thinking tennis   to register a 6-2,6-3 win over  ninth seeded Denisa Allertova of Czech Republic  in 1 hour six minutes ,  Hibino will be challenged in the finals by  the  hard serving Kristyna Pliskova of Czech Republic who came back from 2-5 in the first set to stop Ukrainian  Kateryna Kozlova 7-6(2),6-0 in 1 hour and 20 minutes.

In the doubles finals Ipek Soylu of Turkey and Raluca Olaru of Romania will clash with third seeds Reneta Vorcova of the Czech Republic and Demi Schuurs of Netherlands for the title.

 In  The semifinals Soylu and Olaru stopped  Kristyna Pliskova and Amra Sadikovic of  Switzerland 7-5,6-2 , while Vorcova and Schuurs ended the challenge of Hirok Kuwata of Japan and local girls Nigina Abduraimova 7-6(5),6-3

Fourth seeded Japanese  Nao Hibino will look to become the first player to break the 18 year old Tashkent  open Jinx by winning the title for the second time ( No player in the last 18 years has won the title two times. The event always had a new winner ) . The 21 year Hibino who had lost to Allertova on Grass in England earlier  started  well breaking  twice in the first set and win it easily 6-2 .

Hibino showed good movement and kept the ball back reducing  the momentum of Allertova attack , Allertova started cracking  and was broken again in the 3rd and the 7th games to go down 6-3  in the semifinals and averting a possibility of a All Czech Final with Pliskova.

 " Unbelievable " ,  I was nervous and wanted to make the final at any cost , I focused on  every point and it helped, said a happy  Hibino after the match.  Hibino will take on in form left hander Krystina Pliskova for the crown  . "  I have played against Pliskova  twice and have lost both times , I will be the challenger tomorrow  . But I Will be looking forward to break the Tashkent jinx of a player never having won the title for the second time by winning here tomorrow', added Hibino.

In the second semifinals the 100th ranked Kristyna Pliskova of Czech Republic who is having a dream run at the Tashkent Open came back from being a set point and 2-5 down to capture the set in the tiebreak and register a 7-6 (2),6-0 win against  another unseeded player Kateryna Kozlova  of Ukraine

Pliskova who served 9 aces today , ended the match with splendid left hand forehand cross court winner Kozlova could not recover mentally from the  loss of the first set .  " It feels great to be in my  first ever WTA tour event final , It was a tough First set , Kozlova was playing well and didn't give me many chances , also it was very cold and the balls were heavy .  I  have played her earlier and knew she would make mistakes , so I waited for my chance , my coach  who I  called at 2-5 also pepped me up  and told me to be calm , this helped " 

 Pliskova  further said  " Before i came here didn't have too many expectations but to make points to be able to play the Aussie open , but these points will take me to my highest rankings .    

Following are the results ( ALL Semifinals)

Singles

Kristyna Pliskova (Cze) bt    Kateryna Kozlova (Ukr ) 7-6(2),6-0

S.4 Nao Hibino ( Jpn) bt  Denisa Allertova  (Cze) 6-2,6-3  .

Doubles :

Ipek Soylu (Tur) /   Raluca Olaru (Rou) bt Kristyna Pliskova (Cze)/  Amra Sadikovic (Sui) 7-5,6-2

Eugenie
Bouchard