Bejlek crushes Pliskova in all-Czech clash in Cincinnati, Koprfiva and Machac exit early

At the Cincinnati tennis tournament, twenty-year-old Czech Linda Bejlek demolished compatriot Karolina Pliskova, the former world No. 1, 6-0, 6-2. The win took Bejlek just an hour and five minutes, and she closed out her first match point without much trouble.

For Pliskova, the 2016 champion at this event, the match went badly from the start: she didn't win her first game until she was down 0-2 in the second set, and that came courtesy of the only break she managed all match. Meanwhile, she was broken six times herself, including on eight double faults. Bejlek, 14 years younger than her opponent and ranked 22 spots lower in the WTA standings, avenged her three-set loss to Pliskova at their only previous meeting, in Nottingham back in June.

Bartunkova survives six match points

Another Czech player, Sara Bartunkova, also advanced to the second round, though her path was far more dramatic. After dropping the first set, she leveled the match and then raced ahead in the decider. But her Armenian opponent, Marie Charaeva, refused to fold: trailing 3-5 in the third set, she fought off six match points in a row. Bartunkova eventually closed it out 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the second round, the 20-year-old Czech will face Romania's Sorana Cirstea.

Czech men fall in the first round

Things were far less rosy for Czech men in Cincinnati, where the tournament ended for them right at the start. Vit Koprfiva lost to Frenchman Quentin Halys 6-7, 4-6, while Tomas Machac fell to Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta 3-6, 2-6.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz