Rybakina Tops Pliskova In Abu Dhabi, Samsonova Over Krejcikova

Two of the biggest serves in tennis met in the second round at Abu Dhabi on Thursday, and the youth was served. The 3rd-seeded Elena Rybakina got past Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2. The 23-year-old Rybakina hit three aces, won 23/31 (74%) first service points, 15/21 (71%) on second serves and never lost serve.

Pliskova, ranked No. 20, fired seven aces, hit four doubles, won 31/47 (66%) first service points, but was just 1/9 (11%) on second serves. Rybakina has now won all three of tour-level head-to-head contests with Pliskova.

Top seed Daria Kasatkina took the court defeating Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 1-6, 6-0, 6-2. Kasatkina, ranked 8th, broke serve seven times. She now leads Teichman 3-0 in tour-level meetings.

“In these tough conditions with the wind, as soon as you lose a little bit of focus the game can change completely, and this is what happened at the beginning,” said Kasatkina. “I was a little bit lost with the lights, with the wind but then I found a way to play more safe.”

Sixth-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia edged Yulia Putintseva in three sets 6-4, 6-7(5-7), 7-6(7-4). And No. 8 Liudmila Samsonova defeated former French champion Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 7-6(8-6).

Looking at Friday in quarterfinal action, matches include Qinwen Zheng – No. 1 Daria Kasatkina, No. 2 Belinda Bencic – Shelby Rogers, No. 3 Elena Rybakina – No. 6 Beatriz Haddad Maia plus No. 8 Liudmila Samsonova – No. 4 Veronika Kudermetova.