Karolina Pliskova, the 25-year-old Czech tennis star who's currently ranked No. 1 in the world will make her debut as the top player in Toronto at Rogers Cup (Premier 5 event). As the first seed, Pliskova will be headlining the upper half of the main draw although the path towards the higher stages won't be an easy one. She reached the highest slot of women's tennis after and not due to some great result but rather to her consistency over the past twelve months.
She was stunned in the second round at Wimbledon, but her rivals, namely Kerber and Halep failed to gather more points.
Pliskova might wanna resume her top game as the crucial part of the season is approaching. She will have to defend more than two thousand points over the next few weeks and Toronto would make a terrific place to start accumulating once more. Last year, she reached the round of 16 at Rogers Cup before losing to Simona Halep, the eventual winner of the event.
Pliskova shares draw with Kerber, Wozniacki, Kvitova, Konta, Cibulkova, and Bouchard
The upper half of the draw where Pliskova resides is filled up with numerous WTA stars. The world No.1 received a bye in the opening round and will kick start her North American campaign by facing the winner of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Alize Cornet match up.
The third round may bring Anastasija Sevastova on the other half of the field while the quarterfinals may oppose Pliskova and Caroline Wozniacki. If she reaches the semis, the current world No. 1 has plenty of possible dangerous opponents. It may be Kerber, or Konta or even Kvitova on the other side of the net. The final could bring face to face Pliskova and Halep in what may be a genuine battle for the top spot.
Pliskova has had a solid season
Entering the US Open Series, the 25-year-old Czech tennis star can brag about having some great numbers under her belt. She is 37-10 in win/ loss sheet and has won three WTA titles to date. She is the reigning champion of the WTA event in Brisbane, Doha, and Eastbourne. Coincidence or not, all those three events are from the Premier category ballot.
Back in 2016, she completely turned her season the other way around by winning in Cincinnati. Then, she went on reaching the final at the US Open outplaying both Williams sisters en route to the final. She came short against Kerber in New York despite having the upper hand in the third set. It'll be interesting to watch how she'll handle the pressure of the upcoming weeks knowing what the stakes are.
