After Agnieszka Radwanska and Serena Williams made the BNP Paribas Open semifinals on Wednesday, world No.19 Czech Karolina Pliskova joined them on Thursday with a solid 6-3 6-2 victory over Russia’s Daria Kasatkina.
The 18th-seeded Pliskova, looking marvelous in Fila’s aqua and light grey Fila Spring Net Set Racerback Tank and its matching skirt, displayed an overall stronger performance, hitting 30 winners to just 10 unforced errors and not facing any break points throughout the encounter. On the other hand, Kasatkina’s winners-to-unforced-errors differential was +1, 16 to 15, so actually positive, but a far cry from Pliskova’s +20.
The 18-year-old Kasatkina, the youngest player in this year’s BNP Paribas Open draw, can leave the tournament with a big smile on her face, having ousted two-time Indian Wells champion Daniela Hantuchova and twelfth seed Timea Bacsinszky, among others. Moreover, now it’s only March and the Russian already has five more main-draw wins in 2016 than she had in the entire 2015 season.
#Kasatkina on her rapid rise: “Now I’m top 40. Last year I was 340. (Smiling.) Yeah, it was pretty fast.” #BNPPO16 pic.twitter.com/aeU5eyoiR3
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 17, 2016
Now we’re waiting for the last quarterfinal, the one between Victoria Azarenka and Magdalena Rybarikova, whose winner will be Pliskova’s next opponent.
Agree, the Fila outfit looks really good on her! Strong performance as well.