Third seed Karolina Pliskova has bludgeoned her way into the second round of Wimbledon by using her huge serve and searing forehand to fend off tenacious Chinese challenger Zhu Lin 6-2 7-6 (7-4).
But Pliskova, who won the Eastbourne grasscourt tournament on Saturday, blowing away Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber in the final, had a tougher time on the All England Club’s distant Court Two, against an opponent ranked 98 places behind her.
She zipped through the first set on Monday, whipping a crosscourt return into the corner to wrap it up in 27 minutes.
But, as Zhu found her feet and her range on the new grass, the 27-year-old Czech began to look a little out of sorts and produced a few loose shots among 18 unforced errors.
“My feeling was my timing was a little bit off,” Pliskova said, adding the court felt slower than she expected.
“Sometimes I thought I hit a great shot, but she still was there, she was still able to make it. I don’t know if she’s that good or the court is that slow.”
Zhu, 25, who failed to qualify for Wimbledon the last three years, scurried up and down the baseline, chasing everything down and countering the serve with some fine returning.
Pliskova had to use that booming forehand to get her out of trouble in the 12th game of the second set, saving three set points in a marathon game of seven deuces.
That game ended Zhu’s resistance and Pliskova, a former number one, who could rise to the top spot again at the Championships, took the tiebreak and the match after 1 hour 21 minutes.
The last woman to win at Eastbourne and Wimbledon in the same year was Pliskova’s late compatriot Jana Novotna in 1998.
In other matches on Monday, Simona Halep shook off an injury early in her opener and won five games in a row in the second set to overcome Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4 7-5 in the first match on Court One since the installation of a new roof.
“It (the injury) could be an issue but I hope not. I need treatment now. I slid a little bit and felt a little bit of pain behind the knee and the foot,” Halep said.
Meanwhile, Magdalena Rybarikova, a semi-finalist in 2017, beat 10th seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-2 6-4.
Madison Keys, seeded 17th, made short work of Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum winning 6-3 6-2 to reach the second round while Elina Svitolina handed Australia’s Daria Gavrilova a bagel en route to a 7-5 6-0 victory.
