Karolina Pliskova defeated American Nicole Gibbs 2-6, 6-3 and 6-4 in an hour and 49 minutes in a match that was very close and at times the Czech player saw her number one world ranking in danger.
Last year’s US Open finalist moves on to the third round and on Saturday Will face Chinese player Shuai Zhang, ranked 26th in the world.
Gibbs, ranked 127 in the world, had only won three matches on tour this year before the US Open, but she raced to a 5-1 lead on her way to pocketing the first set.
Gibbs was dominant in the first set where she played outstanding tennis using her powerful right-handed strokes to win in 32 minutes.
Although Pliskova uses a powerful serve and her right hand to score a lot of winners, in this occasion she struggled early as nothing seemed to be working in the first set.
Gibbs started the match playing confidently, with nothing to lose against an opponent that is clearly better than her. She started by forcing an errant Pliskova to run from side to side and looking uncomfortable.
In the second set, Pliskova corrected her serve and limited her errors as she roared back to force the third and final set.
Although Gibbs looked fresh in the first two sets of the match, fatigue settled in during the third one and limited her options against Pliskova.
Pliskova’s confidence grew with the second set victory and her powerful right hand proved more lethal as the third set went on. A now tired and more erratic Gibbs had no answer for Pliskova, who took advantage of her opponent’s fatigue and forced her to chase her balls all over the court.
The Czech used her now precise serve to win the 10th game of the third set and take the match.
