DUBAI — Karolina Pliskova, the steep-serving 22-year-old from Prague who last month became the youngest player in the current top 20, reached the biggest final of her career with her third outstanding win at the Dubai Open. Having already ousted two seeded players Pliskova followed it with a nerve-shredding 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory over Garbine Muguruza, an elegantly gifted 21-year-old from Barcelona, and snatched a memorable victory just as her chances seemed to be fading. Pliskova always had the steeper more dangerous serve, and her 13 aces extended her year's total to 145, the most on the WTA Tour. But there were phases near the end when it seemed that might not be enough. She had to save two break points at 3-4 in the final set, holding serve with the help of a video review which showed she had landed another ace, and then slipped to love-40 when she was trying to close the match out at 6-5. Throughout much of the second half of the final set Muguruza, who had beaten three seeds herself, possessed the more supple and flexible game, giving her more options in a tricky wind. The Czech next faces either Simona Halep or Caroline Wozniacki. Wozniacki had overcome a persistent fever, a seed-beater and difficulties with her first serve to beat Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-0 Thursday. Nadal battles into quarters In Rio, Rafael Nadal kept rolling in his first clay-court of the season with a 7-5, 6-3 victory Thursday over fellow Spaniard and friend Pablo Carreno Busta to reach the quarterfinals of the Rio Open. No. 4 Fabio Fognini of Italy advanced, beating Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-3, 6-2. Women's top seed Sara Errani of Italy also reached the quarterfinals, defeating Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 6-0, 7-5 in the combined ATP-WTA tournament. Nadal faces No. 6 Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay on Friday, while No. 2 seed David Ferrer of Spain goes against Juan Monaco of Argentina. In other men's matches, Cuevas defeated Albert Montanes of Spain 6-2, 6-2 and Federico Delbonis of Argentina defeated No. 8 Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-2, 6-1. On the women's side, No. 6 Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia made the final eight with a victory over Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 6-0, 6-2. Young, Nishioka advance Yoshihito Nishioka, a 19-year-old from Japan, became the first teenage qualifier to reach the quarterfinals of the Delray Beach Open since his countryman, Kei Nishikori, won the title as an 18-year-old in 2008. Nishioka advanced Thursday with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Australian Marinko Matosevic to set up a quarterfinal meeting with either the eighth seed, Viktor Troicki of Serbia, or Australian Bernard Tomic. Like Nishikori, Nishioka moved to the United States just before his 15th birthday to train at the IMG Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, courtesy of the Morita Fund, a scholarship designed to develop Japanese talent. He has practiced with Nishikori, last year's US Open runner-up, and learned by watching him play. Donald Young reached his third quarterfinal in four ATP events this year with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia. Young will next play third-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov, who beat American Tim Smyczek 6-2, 6-4. Bolelli upsets Raonic In France, top-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada was knocked out of the Open 13 in his first match on Thursday after a shock 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3) second-round loss to Simone Bolelli, who recorded the biggest win of his career. Bolelli broke the longest losing streak against top-10 opponents in the Open era, with his first victory after 35 defeats. The Italian faces seventh-seeded Gael Monfils of France in the quarterfinals. Third-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia was eliminated in a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. Chardy has another difficult test, against compatriot Gilles Simon, after the fifth-seeded player beat Borna Coric 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. No. 2 Stan Wawrinka is now the highest-ranked player in the tournament after the Swiss player eased past wild card Benoit Paire of France 6-2, 6-3 in less than an hour. Another seeded player, No. 6 David Goffin of Belgium, retired with a rib injury when losing 5-1 to Austria's Dominic Thiem. The 21-year-old Thiem next plays Roberto Bautista-Agut. — Agencies
