Karolina Pliskova, who won the Western & Southern Open title this past week, had a winning mentality in Cincinnati. She plans to take that into Flushing Meadows when the U.S. Open gets underway next week.
Prior to taking the title in Ohio, the 24-year-old had won five tournaments, but all of them were at the lower International level. She has never been beyond the third round of a Grand Slam, and she’ll look to change that in New York.
"Yeah, definitely this tournament gave me a lot of confidence," Pliskova said after defeating Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber in Cincinnati. "...I feel very good now, especially on the hard court. I have enough matches. That's what counts before [the] U.S. Open. I just take a rest and still try to prepare as I prepared for this tournament, and take it as it is … Not to think about too much that it's a Grand Slam."
The Czech has been a leading performer in Fed Cup, most recently helping her team return to the final with a singles and doubles victory against Switzerland. But she noted that the experience of playing a WTA-level tournament is different.
"You don't have that many people cheering for you and watching you as in Czech, so it's really like [a] different thing, Fed Cup and the normal tournament[s]," she told reporters this week. "I think it would help me to be there mentally, like I'm in Fed Cup."
An aspect of her Cincinnati performance that she would like to repeat is "improving round to round."
"That's the main thing, that you can play the best tennis in the final," she said after upsetting Kerber in the final. "I remember the tennis this year in Eastbourne, and I was playing my best tennis, I think, in the third or the second round ... You cannot win a tournament like this."
Pliskova is No. 11 in the rankings.