Tennis-Pliskova trumps Martincova in Czech battle to move into Wimbledon last-16

LONDON (Reuters) -Eighth seed Karolina Pliskova threw caution to the wind on her second serve to triumph over Tereza Martincova 6-3 6-3 in the battle of Czechs on Court Two to move into the last-16 at Wimbledon on Friday.

Former world number one Pliskova fell at first hurdle in the tune-up tournaments in Berlin and Eastbourne last month but the 29-year-old has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon.

The last time the two met was in the first round of the U.S. Open in 2019 and there was little to separate them then with Pliskova advancing only after winning tiebreaks in two sets.

Although Pliskova made 36 unforced errors and nine double faults, she fired 30 winners past her compatriot who struggled with her first serve and managed to convert only one break point opportunity.

While others usually opt for the cautious second serve, Pliskova's high double fault count was a result of going for a strong second serve which has moved her to the top of the aces charts with 22 in the tournament.

"Some of the double faults, I think, they are quite good, in a good way," Pliskova, who also tops the double fault charts with 17, told reporters.

"I think that's a good combination if it's also like lot of aces. With the second serve, I feel like I do (win) a lot of points. Then you just put pressure on the opponent, on their serve."

"Definitely I'm going for the serve a bit more here, because I think you can just have more points with that if you go for the serve.

Pliskova, who has reached at least the quarter-finals of every Grand Slam barring Wimbledon, will play either American Sloane Stephens or Russian wildcard Liudmila Samsonova in the next round.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)