Juvan beats Pliskova in Strasbourg to advance to first final; Kerber is waiting for you
Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan picked up a Top 10 victory to reach her first Hologic WTA Tour final at the Strasbourg Open on Friday. His reward will be a championship match with three-time Grand Slam titlist Angelique Kerber.
Juvan, ranked at No. 81, knocked out No. 8 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 7-5 in 1 hour and 26 minutes to book a place in her first final. Juvan hasn’t dropped a set all week.
With the win over Pliskova, Juvan now has two Top 10 wins in her career. Juvan, 21, picked up her first Top 10 victory in January, when she beat Aryna Sabalenka in Adelaide.
“All this year I feel like I’ve come so close to beating these players,” Juvan said. “I was like, ‘OK, let’s go, let’s be aggressive, I can do this, I’m still this close.’ We prepared well, and I think I stayed aggressive and tried to score points, not just wait for it, and it worked in the end.
“I felt like I was really quick and I felt really strong, so I wasn’t too worried if it was going to go to the third set, if it was going to be a long game. … I relaxed and I tried to stick to my plan because I thought in the end it would be worth it no matter what.”
Juvan cruised through the first set before former world No. 1 Pliskova fought back in the second set, coming from an early breakdown to keep it level at 5-5.
However, Juvan continued to slam the winners throughout the second set, and she earned the critical break to lead 6-5. There, Juvan came back from a break point to close the game with a backhand winner.
Juvan will now face a second consecutive former world No. 1, as Kerber advances to his 32nd career WTA Finals after French prospect Oceane Dodin withdrew from their semi-final. Kerber was leading 7-6(2), 1-0 when Dodin deemed herself unable to continue.
2 seed Kerber posted her best performance on clay in more than six years, reaching her first final on clay since winning the title from Stuttgart on home soil in 2016.
Powerful No.94-ranked Dodin was easily getting huge returns as she quickly took a 3-1 lead. However, Kerber found vintage winners down the line to resume service, ending up lining up for a first-set tie-break.
A forehand winner gave Kerber a 4-1 lead in the breaker, and she reached the quadruple set point with a deft bunt for 6-2. Dodin scored a forehand on the first set point to hand the opener to Kerber, and the Frenchwoman retired after being broken in the opener of the second set.
Juvan will enter Saturday’s final knowing she has beaten Kerber in their only previous meeting, and on clay at that. Juvan eliminated Kerber in the first round of Roland Garros 2020 by the score of 6-3, 6-3.