PRAGUE — Japan’s Nao Hibino ended a four-year title drought with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of No. 4 seed and home favourite Linda Noskova to win the Prague Open in the Czech Republic.
The 28-year-old Hibino broke her Czech opponent twice in the final set to jump to a 4-1 lead before the match was interrupted by rain when she was 30-0 up in the sixth game.
It’s Hibino’s third career title after Hiroshima (2019) and Tashkent (2015).
Canada´s Milos Raonic beat American Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (12), 7-6 (4), 6-3 in an epic first-round match at the National Bank Open.
The ninth-seeded Tiafoe outlasted the Canadian in a 20-minute tiebreaker in the first set. But Raonic, who grew up in nearby Thornhill, Ontario, took the second set in a tiebreaker and went on to complete the victory in 2 hours, 44 minutes.
This is Raonic´s third tournament appearance since returning to the ATP Tour in June after an injury absence of nearly two years. “It doesn´t matter how much you do the right things, you never know when things (will) click and things come together for you,” Raonic said. “For me, it´s incredibly special for it to be here.”
Pliskova of the Czech Republic scored a 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-2 victory over China’s Zhu Lin in their first-round match in Montreal. Pliskova, who was the runner-up in Montreal two years ago, took 2 hours and 22 minutes of play to overcome Zhu.
The day’s first rain delay paused that match at 8-8 in the second-set tiebreak, just after Pliskova had missed out on two match points. Upon resumption, Zhu won the next two points to eke out the second set, but Pliskova rebounded in the third set, where she broke Zhu’s serve three times.
“I was kind of ready for both situations because it’s 8-8, so it can just be like two quick points, so you have to be ready that you are going to lose them as well,” Pliskova said.
“Of course, it’s tough because you kind of are so close to the win, and then you just start from zero going in the third set, but there’s nothing you can do. You have to still be there and fight.”
Swiatek has won their two previous meetings, which were both on clay. Swiatek routed Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the 2021 Rome final, but she needed three sets to beat Pliskova in Stuttgart this April.
“I was not really close to winning [in Stuttgart], but I just felt like I found the game which I have to play against [Swiatek], which of course, not always is easy,” Pliskova said. “She can really make you feel, like, not lost, but I mean, she doesn’t give you many free points.
“You have to find that balance between playing risky, aggressive, but not too risky, not too much, because then [Swiatek’s] not going to give you many points. Of course, that’s going to be the most difficult part, to find what is too much and what is not enough.”
Earlier, Hibino beat Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-3 after their semifinal was interrupted three times before it was suspended at 15-15 in the eighth game of the third set with Hibino leading 5-2.
Noskova, 18, eased past Germany´s Tamara Korpatsch 6-1, 6-1.
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