World No.3 Karolina Pliskova claimed a commanding 6-0 6-4 victory over Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig, while seventh-seeded Simona Halep survived a scare to beat fellow Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 4-6 6-2 and advance to the third round at Wimbledon.
Czech star Pliskova dominated the early exchanges of her match as she ran through six straight games to claim the first set in 20 minutes.
Puig, world ranked No.53, lost a seventh consecutive game before holding serve, but a fourth break gave a 3-1 lead to Pliskova.
Pliskova’s serve was broken back, but she sealed the contest from 5-4 on her first match point to dismiss Puig in one hour on Centre Court.
“I felt the best here in Wimbledon today,” said Pliskova.
“I feel like I improved from the first round. I was a little bit nervous. Hopefully it can be better again in the third one.”
Pliskova next faces Hsieh Su-wei in the third round after the Taiwanese player dismissed Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
At last year’s tournament, Hsieh knocked out Halep at the same stage.
“I remember she beat Simona, (Halep)” said Pliskova when asked about Hsieh.
“She can be tough. I think if I play fast enough, she’s not going to have enough time to do anything. On serve I should be better.”
Meanwhile, Halep endured a far tougher second-round test against compatriot Buzarnescu before eventually winning 6-3 4-6 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes.
Halep had a 2-0 lead in each of the three sets where the pair accumulated a total of 23 breaks of serve.
The match was stopped with Buzarnescu leading 4-2 in the second set due to an ill spectator and even though Halep broke back to level at 4-4, Buzarnescu earned a break to serve out the set and even the scores.
In the final set, Halep, who won her first grand slam at the 2018 French Open, collected a 3-0 lead and escaped into the third round with a backhand winner.
Halep’s now faces another fellow former world No.1 after Victoria Azarenka of Belarus overcame Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2 6-0.
Also in the women’s draw, Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit beat Britain’s Heather Watson 7-5 6-1 for a round three meeting with Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, who conquered Madison Brengle of the United States 6-3 6-4.
Ukrainian eighth seed Elina Svitolina had a fortunate escape in round two against Russian Margarita Gasparyan.
Svitolina was a set and a break down, but Gasparyan picked up an untimely injury and was forced to retire at 5-7 6-5 with Svitolina ahead in set two.
The 24-year-old WTA Finals champion next meets Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who triumphed 6-4 6-1 against the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova to progress.
