Plíšková moves up to world number four; Plzeň narrows Slavia’s lead; hockey teams prepare for play-off semi-final, while Jágr struggles; cyclist Štybar wins E3 BinckBank Classic.
Tennis: Plíšková moves up to world number four after Miami Open
Karolína Plíšková, photo: ČTK/AP/Lynne Sladky
Karolína Plíšková has moved to number four in the WTA tennis rankings. The 27-year-old reached the final of the Miami Open last week, but missed out on the title after losing to Australian Ashleigh Barty in two sets 6:7 and 3:6 in the final. In an interview for Deník N, Ms. Plíškova said that she simply “did not have enough strength” to win the final, in part, because she had played all of the preceding matches at night. Nevertheless, she said the past three months have been the best her life and she is now preparing for the start of the clay season, hoping to defend her title at the Women's Stuttgart Open in three weeks’ time.
Football: Slavia stumbles but still well ahead of Plzeň
Viktoria Plzeň managed to narrow Slavia’s lead on Sunday after beating Bohemians 3:2 in a close match at home. The West Bohemian team’s striker Jean-David Beauguel scored twice to keep Plzeň’s title hopes alive. However, speaking on the club’s website, he was not happy after the game.
“As Plzeň, we cannot make a mistake after being 2:0 in the lead during half-time. They came back after we scored two goals and I think that today we were lucky to get three points.”
Playing at home, Slavia only managed to draw 1:1 with eighth-placed Liberec. However, the Prague club retains a seven-point lead with only four games left to play.
Hockey: Teams prepare for play-off semi-final, while Jágr struggles with Kladno
Jaromír Jágr, photo: ČTK/Ondřej Hájek
All of the semi-finalists in this season’s Generali Play-Off are now known after Liberec beat Plzeň 3:2 in the final, seventh game of the quarter-final. The North Bohemian team will play Kometa Brno in the next stage. The other semi-final series will see Třinec facing Vítkovice. Both Brno and Třinec sped through their quarter final series, beating their opponents 4:0 on games.
Meanwhile, as teams are fighting for the title, the bottom two teams of the Extraliga are battling with the top two teams of the second, Chance liga, for who will play in the top-tier of Czech ice hockey next season. One of the hopefuls is Kladno, who are led by 47-year-old legend Jaromír Jágr. For now however, the main star’s presence has not yet helped Kladno, as they currently lie at the bottom of the race, losing both their games and not scoring a goal.
Cycling: Štybar wins E3 BinckBank Classic
Zdeněk Štybar, photo: ČTK/AP/Francisco Seco
Czech cyclist Zdeněk Štybar won his second title of the season on Friday, after coming first at the E3 BinckBank Classic in Belgium. The three-time Cyclo-cross World Champion sealed victory in the last seconds of the race, emerging first out of a group of four cyclists in the final sprint ahead of the finish line. He is the first Czech in history to win the race.
