Rising Australian star Talia Gibson has been defeated in her first grass-court quarter-final in Nottingham, her encouraging progress halted by a former Wimbledon star on the comeback trail.
Two-time grand slam finalist Karolina Pliskova, who's trying to battle back to her best at the age of 34 after a two-year fight to overcome debilitating injury, showed glimpses of her old dominant self as she beat the Perth prospect 7-5 6-4 in just over an hour-and-a-half on Friday (Saturday AEST).
It propelled the Czech, who lost the 2021 Wimbledon final to Ash Barty, into her first semi-final at any WTA event since the same Nottingham event two years ago following the ankle injury she suffered when playing Jasmine Paolini at the 2024 US Open.
Since then, it's been a long struggle for the two-time slam finalist and former world No.1 as she's had to learn how to walk again following two surgeries on her left ankle.
But having started the year back at No.1057 in the world, Pliskova has bounced back so impressively that, now at No.87, she'll move up into at least the top-80 again next week with Wimbledon looming again.
Asked if she felt she could be a dark horse again at her favourite grass-court slam, Pliskova shrugged earlier this week: "Of course. Depending on the draw -- you can have some ugly players to face on grass. I feel like if I can pass first round, second round, then I can be dangerous."
For 22-year-old Gibson, who made such a dramatic breakthrough in the US hard-court swing by reaching the quarter-finals at Indian Wells and the last-16 in Miami, reaching the quarters at the pre-Wimbledon event was another encouraging step on her road to the top.
But the world No.66 will have been frustrated by her capitulation in the 11th game of the first set when a couple of double faults helped gift the key break to the Czech. In all, Gibson served eight doubles.
Meanwhile, in another pre-Wimbledon event at the Berlin Open, Aryna Sabalenka, who's trying to put her French Open disappointment behind her, staged a memorable comeback from a set and 4-0 down to defeat Czech youngster Nikola Bartunkova 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 in the quarters.
In the semi-finals, she will take on third seed Jessica Pegula, who beat her close friend Madison Keys 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (10-8).
