THE Round of 16 of the WTA Tour Prague Open fantasy tournament saw some interesting matches, but much like the Round of 32, it was fairly predictable when it came to seeded competitors.

Karolina Pliskova continued her recent form with a stellar win over Russian Veronika Kudermetova, downing her 6-2 6-2. Pliskova was clinical from the get-go, forcing error upon error from Kudermetova and was threatening all through the match. Pliskova’s seeded compatriots Petra Kvitova and Marketa Vondrousova also put in solid efforts, both collecting straight sets victories over their respective opposition in Yulia Putintseva and Danka Kovinic. Where Kvitova had a similarly straightforward match as Pliskova, Vondrousova had a much tougher time against Montenegro’s Kovinic, who came off second best in the first set tiebreaker before contesting well in the second but going down 7-5 6-4.

Apart from Kudermetova’s loss, Russia had a fairly successful day with both Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova coming away with wins under pressure. Pavlyuchenkova was the only unseeded player to defeat seed, beating eighth seed Qiang Wang in straight sets 6-4 7-6. Qiang had a slower start before building up towards the end of the match, frustratingly pipped at the post in the second set tiebreaker. Kuznetsova came in strong against American qualifier Coco Vandeweghe, winning the first set 6-3 before Vandeweghe tightened her game in the second, and like Qiang was unfortunate to not win the second set after a stellar effort.

Garbine Muguruza was the only player taken to three sets, defeating Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 2-6 7-6. While the Spaniard had a bit of a slip in the second and third sets, she was overall just stronger than her Latvian opposition but will want to lift her game heading into the next round. The final seed in Elina Svitolina defeated Ostapenko’s compatriot in Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3 7-6 in a pretty consistent effort, forming a barricade across the court but slipping up a couple of times. The second seed will take on returning Angelique Kerber in the next round after the German defeated Shuai Zhang in straight sets, 6-3 6-4.

Both Czech Republic and Russia feature heavily on day three with the two nations set to face off twice.

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 6-2 6-2
[2] Elina Svitolina (UKR) defeated Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 6-3 7-6
[3] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 6-4 2-6 7-6
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE) defeated Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-2 6-3
[6] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) defeated Danka Kovinic (MON) 7-5 6-4
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated [8] Qiang Wang (CHN) 6-4 7-6
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) defeated [Q] Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 6-3 7-5
Angelique Kerber (GER) defeated Shuai Zhang (CHN) 6-3 6-4