Pliskova fights back to win in Brisbane

BRISBANE: Karolina Pliskova refused to panic despite falling behind a set and a break to Yulia Putintseva in the opening round of the Brisbane International on Monday.Pliskova, a former world No 1, appeared headed for an early exit when she stumbled against Putintseva late in the first set.But she recovered from 2-0 down in the second to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two and a quarter hours at the Pat Rafter Arena.Australian wildcard Kimberly Birrell pulled off a massive upset when she stunned world number 10 Daria Kasatkina in three sets.Birrell, 20, had only ever won one match on the main WTA tour but showed great composure to come from 3-5 down in the third set to win 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) in three hours, six minutes. She will now play Lesia Tsurenko in the second round after the Ukranian beat Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-0, 6-2.Meanwhile, former champions Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov stormed into the second round of the season-opening Brisbane International tennis tournament with comprehensive wins.Raonic demolished Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene 6-0, 6-3 while Dimitrov, who won the following year, sailed past Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-4. Both men have career-high world rankings of three, but Raonic and Dimitrov have each slipped over the past 12 months and sit at 18 and 19 respectively.The big-serving Raonic fired down 18 aces in his win over Bedene and won 93 per cent of his first serves in a match that only last 47 minutes.

from The News International - Sports http://bit.ly/2EZevjN