Pliskova will face reigning champion Keys in return to Grand Slam third round

MELBOURNE, Australia -- The journey back to tennis for Karolina Pliskova has been difficult. 

At the 2024 US Open in her second round match against Jasmine Paolini, the former World No. 1 landed awkwardly on her left foot, damaging various ligaments and tendons in her ankle. The injury -- which required two surgeries -- sidelined her from the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz for 12 months.

"The ankle is still very stiff," she said to tennis.com. "This will never get better. To be honest, it doesn’t really limit me on the court. I may not move as well, but at least it forces me to play fast."

Returning for two WTA 125 events in Portugal and Türkiye, Pliskova's ranked had dropped outside the top 1000 because of the missed tournaments. She used a protected ranking to enter the main draw of the 2026 Australian Open, and in her first matches of the season, the Czech is making the most of the opportunity. 

Defeating qualifier Sloane Stephens -- the 2017 US Open champion who similarly battled a foot injury -- in the first round 7-6 (7), 6-2, Pliskova advanced into the third round by taking down rising star Janice Tjen 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday.

Pliskova is now back in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2023 Australian Open. She'll face reigning champion Madison Keys, who cruised past Ashlyn Krueger. 

"Once we are back after such a long injury, you just hope to have some matches," Pliskova said to press after her win over Tjen. "Sometimes you just don't know -- you can come to a big tournament, and you can have one of the top seeds in the first round. So it helped that I didn't have any of that, and I just had the chance to maybe play like one or two matches. 

"I think matches always helps. Just the confidence of, like, playing matches and making the decisions where to play, how to play, I think that you just need to spend the time on the courts to be sure about that."

Pliskova said she was feeling physically "not great" after the match, but attributed that too her long layoff and the need to continue playing matches. Since returning in September, the Czech has played just five matches with the offseason in between. 

"The day off obviously helps a lot, but yesterday was a tough day for me, especially after the big win in the first round. Hope to manage it a little bit better today, but wasn't also easy match, but at least two sets.

"It's a big difference to go from training weeks to still playing matches. So I think I need a little bit of that."

They've played just once before on the WTA Tour, more than six years ago at the 2020 Brisbane International final. The Czech won that three-set thriller 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, earning one of her 17 WTA Tour singles titles. 

"A lot of things change.  She won the Australian Open here last year. I was away for some time," Pliskova said. "She's going to be the favorite here. So I can only surprise, but let's see. I have my weapons, and I think it can be a good match."