Tennis players Bouzková and Nosková advance in Prague and compete together for the final
Update: 29/07/2022 19:55
Issued by: 29/07/2022, 14:18
Prague – Czech tennis has a certain finalist at the Livesport Prague Open tournament. Eight seeded Marie Bouzková defeated Oksana Selechmetová from Russia 6:3, 6:0 on the concrete courts in Stromovka today and will challenge 17-year-old compatriot Linda Nosková in Saturday’s semi. Last year’s winner of the junior Roland Garros advanced to the top four players of the WTA tournament for the first time after her Japanese opponent Nao Hibinová gave up the duel with a score of 6:3, 4:2 for Nosková due to a back injury.
The other semi-final pair consists of Russia’s Anastasia Potapova and China’s Wang Chiang. While the 21-year-old Potapova outclassed world number two and seeded number one Anett Kontaveit from Estonia twice 6:1, former world number 12 Wang Chiang knocked out Poland’s Magda Linette 7:5, 6:7, 6:4 after three hours.
Quarter-finalist of this year’s Wimbledon, Bouzková confirmed against Selechmetěv’s qualification as a favorite. Although she lost serve twice in the first set, she gained the necessary lead thanks to breaks. He ended the set with a fourth converted break point.
In the second set, the twenty-four-year-old native of Prague continued her impressive performance. At 4:0 and 30:30, the match was interrupted by rain for a while. After that, Bouzková had to fend off three more break points, but she managed the unpleasant moments and after another broken serve gave her Russian rival a canary. In the duel with Nosková, she is fighting for the fourth final in her career.
“Linda is a super player and another young Czech. I am therefore expecting a tough match,” said Bouzková at the press conference, who completed sparring with her compatriot before the tournament. “From what we trained for one day, I know that he plays quite aggressively. But it was still just training. We looked around a bit and I will definitely prepare for it. But today I will turn it off for a while and tomorrow we will somehow prepare the tactics,” she added Bouzkova.
Coach Tomáš Krupa’s protégé Nosková continues her life’s journey in Prague. Against Barbora Krejčíková, who defeated Barbora Krejčíková from the second round, Hibinová made an excellent start to the match and led 4:0 after two breaks. She also lost her serve twice, starting at 4-3, but then the world number 112 won the remaining games to take the first set.
Hibinová, who is ranked 251st in the world, requested a medical break in the second set at 2:1 and had her back massaged for a long time. However, she continued to have difficulties with her serve, losing three games in a row and withdrawing from the match.
Nosková advanced in Prague after a scratch for the second time, Russia’s Natalia Vichlancevová did not finish against her in the opening round. Thanks to her first participation in the semifinals, the young Czech secured her first move into the top 100 of the WTA ranking.
“It’s nice. I set it as an imaginary goal at the end of the year. It’s nice that I managed to achieve it, but of course I will lose last year’s points from Přerov. So it wouldn’t be bad to have one or two more here in Prague wheels to fix it,” said Nosková at the press conference.
In the afternoon, the 17-year-old Czech made it to the quarter-finals of the doubles game with Lucía Havlíčková, but failed against the Russian pair Angelina Gabujeva and Anastasia Zacharova 4:6, 6:3, 8:10.
Twenty-one-year-old Potapova defeated Kontaveitova for the first time in her career and after two previous defeats. She also avenged her week-old defeat out of six in Hamburg. The native of Saratov, Russia, has not yet lost a set in Prague.
Lucie Havlíčková’s defeater from the 2nd round, Kontaveitová lost her serve five times in the match, on the contrary, she did not develop a single break point opportunity. Her defeat was always decided by the beginning of the sets, she played 0:4 in both. Potapova advanced after 51 minutes of play.
“My opponent played great. It wasn’t me mentally or physically today. I was tired. I played last week too and I think it got to me. I definitely didn’t play my best tennis today. All the credit goes to my opponent. I can’t even say that would surprise me with something in the match. If I was in my shoes, the whole thing would look different,” Kontaveitová told reporters.
The tournament continues with semi-final matches on Saturday. The start of tomorrow’s program has been moved to 1:30 p.m., the TK Sparta Prague campus will open an hour earlier. Bouzková and Nosková will be the first to go into action, followed by the fight between Potapova and Wang Chiang. In case of bad weather, the start of the matches will be moved during the day.
Women’s tennis tournament Livesport Prague Open
(hard surface, $251,750 subsidy):
Singles – Quarter Finals:
Bouzkova (8-CR) – Selechmetevová (Russia) 6:3, 6:0, Potapova (7-Russia) – Kontaveitova (1-Est.) 6:1, 6:1, Wang Chiang (China) – Linette (Poland) 7:5, 6:7 (5:7), 6:4 .
Doubles – Quarterfinals:
Gabuyeva, Zakharova (Russian) – Havlíčková, Nosková (Czech Republic) 6:4, 3:6, 10:8.