Osaka, Barty and Pliskova advance in Cincinnati

On 🔝 for a reason

No. 1 seed @ashbar96 blasts past Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-1 to reach 3R.#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/bVcCGeUTe9

— Western & Southern Open (@CincyTennis) August 14, 2019

The contest for the top ranking in the world is still on. The three women who could leave Cincinnati as number 1--Naomi Osaka (the current number 1), Ash Barty and Karolina Pliskova all advanced today at the Western & Southern Open. Barty and Pliskova both won in straight sets; Osaka was taken to a third set by Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who had to get treatment for her left knee during the match.

Top seed Barty defeated Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-1. The first set was competitive, but in the second, Sharapova became too error-prone to give Barty much trouble. In her press conference, the Russian star appeared world-weary, and was obviously troubled by what had occurred. She said that she couldn't account for the lapse, but guessed that part of the problem may have been that this was her first daytime match.

Sharapova committed six double faults, a phenomenon that has rarely let up since her last shoulder surgery. She did report, however, that she felt very good physically. She also said that she was not looking for a coach at this time.

Someone commented that Sharapova's many injuries and episodes of starting over "seems like four lifetimes." "It feels," Sharapova responded, "like twenty."

Last year's runner-up, Simona Halep, started today's center court play with a three-set victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova. Halep is still dealing with the foot injury that took her out of the Rogers Cup last week. Her next opponent will be Madison Keys, who has now beaten both 2017 champion Garbine Muguruza and a somewhat resurgent Daria Kasatkina. 

2016 @CincyTennis champion @KaPliskova won 86% of points on first serve in her second-round win over Wang Yafan --> https://t.co/SooE34DQXU pic.twitter.com/8FpjeLlbwK

— WTA (@WTA) August 14, 2019

Anett Kontaveit won a very entertaining match against Iga Swiatek, and her reward will be to play Ash Barty. Aryna Sabalenka is back on the upswing (she looked really good here last year, too), and in the third round, she'll face Maria Sakkari, who defeated Petra Kvitova last night. Venus Williams may have her hands full with Donna Vekic, who defeated Vika Azarenka in straight sets. And Karolina Pliskova will play Rebecca Peterson.

Other winners today were Elina Svitolina, Hsieh Su-Wei, Sonya Kenin, and Sveta Kuznetsova. The Russian has defeated both Anastasija Sevastova and Dayana Yastremska. Kenin will play Elina Svitolina, whom she defeated in Toronto, in the third round.