Bencic advances to showdown with Samsonova
Belinda Bencic breezed through to the Abu Dhabi Open final after a commanding 6-2 6-3 victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Belinda Bencic breezed through to the Abu Dhabi Open final after a commanding 6-2 6-3 victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia.
The world number nine, who is yet to drop a set this week, is into her second WTA final of 2023, having triumphed in Adelaide last month.
Haddad Maia came into the match having won each of her previous six encounters with top-10 opponents, including her quarter-final victory over Wimbledon champion and Australian Open finalist Elena Rybakina.
But the Brazilian had already spent almost eight hours on court in this event before this contest, in which world number nine Bencic dropped just five games on the way to wracking up her 11th win of the year ā the joint-most on the WTA Tour alongside Melbourne winner Aryna Sabalenka.
The Swiss will play eighth seed Liudmila Samsonova in the final after the Russian defeated Zheng Qinwen 6-4 1-6 6-4.
After being edged out in the first set, Zheng responded to motor through the second and seemed to have the momentum going into the third, but Samsonova showed impressive resolve to see off three break points before closing it out on her first match point.
At the Linz Open, top seed Maria Sakkari is out after going down 3-6 6-3 6-4 to sixth seed Petra Martic in a gruelling match that lasted more than two and a half hours.
Croatian Martic will play Anastasia Potapova in the final after the eighth seed claimed yet another three-set victory this week, this time to see off Marketa Vondrousova 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 and secure her fifth appearance in a WTA final.