Czech tennis superstar, Karolina Pliskova has made it into the quarterfinals of the 2018 WTA Brisbane International where she will be playing Ajla Tomljanović from Australia.
Ajla Tomljanović has had a decent tournament as she has won both of matches with relative ease. In her previous match, Ajla Tomljanović beat Johanna Konta in straight sets. During the win, Tomljanović returned serve exceptionally well as she won over 50% of the receiving points she played which led her to win 5 break points. The home crowd should be getting behind Ajla Tomljanović which should give the Australian a boost in this fixture. That being said, Ajla Tomljanović is set to find this match very challenging as she is playing one of the best players in the world.
Looking at her opponent, Karolina Pliskova eased through her second round match which she won in straight sets. It was a dominant performance by the Czech superstar as Pliskova won 5 return games to ensure a comfortable victory. Karolina Pliskova has an exceptional record at this event as she won the title in 2017. Pliskova had a strong finish to the 2018 season and she looks be playing very well at this event. With form and experience on her side, Karolina Pliskova is going to be hard to stop in this tournament.
Ajla Tomljanović and Karolina Pliskova have played twice in the past with each player winning on one occasion. Ajla Tomljanović’s win was at a WTA 25K event in 2011 while Karolina’s Pliskova’s win 2015 at WTA Stanford.
Taking everything into consideration, I am going to pick Karolina Pliskova to win this match. While Ajla Tomljanović is playing at home, Pliskova is more accomplished and a much more skilled player. Looking at her current form, it is going to be very hard for anybody to beat Karolina Pliskova. With that in mind, I see Pliskova making the semifinals of this tournament.