Dubai: World No. 3 and former Dubai runner-up Karolina Pliskova is confident in her abilities to be at her best in the near future.
Seeded second in Dubai this week, the lanky Czech girl was ousted by new kid on the block Elena Rybakina in an engrossing quarter-final on Thursday. Her opponent from Kazakhstan seemed to do all the right things to power her way to a 7-6, 6-3 win over the former world No. 1.
But Pliskova was not too worried either about her form or her future. “I am definitely looking forward to Doha little more. I think I had some good practice days here where in the end I got good two matches in singles and two matches of doubles. I don’t think it was a bad week,” Pliskova said.
“It’s not every week when a player does not make the final means it is a bad week. For me, it was not a bad week here at all. There are a lot of positives. I thought my attitude was great this week. Of course, there is another week, another tournament and I am looking forward to that.”
Pliskova has won 16 singles and five doubles titles on the WTA. She has an amazing start to the season while winning the Brisbane International with a three-set victory over Madison Keys. In the semi-finals, she had got the better of another former world number one Naomi Osaka, also in three sets.
Pliskova’s next stop is next week’s Qatar Open in Doha, where she had withdrawn at the last minute due to a viral illness. “It’s a brand new week, brand new tournament and a brand new mentality. Things are definitely on the right path for me at the moment,” Pliskova said.
