By Alberto Amalfi | Thursday, October 24, 2019
Top-seeded Kiki Bertens broke serve five times defeating Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-3 to secure a semifinal spot in the WTA Elite Zhuhai for the first time.
Photo credit: WTA Elite Zhuhai Facebook
Kiki Bertens fell short of Shenzhen, but is stepping up in Zhuhai.
The top-seeded Bertens broke serve five times defeating Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-3 to secure a semifinal spot in the WTA Elite Zhuhai for the first time.
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Deadlocked at 4-all, Bertens began striking with more accuracy and reeled off eight of the last 11 games to prevail in the final round-robin match of the Azalea Group.
Bertens, who was beaten out by Belinda Bencic for the eighth and final spot in the WTA Finals Shenzhen, surged into her 10th semifinal of the season. Bertens beat the 19-year-old Yastremska for the second time in as many meetings following her 7-6(5), 6-3 victory in Beijing last month.
Madison Keys opened Thursday's play sweeping Petra Martic 6-3, 6-4, but saw her semifinal hopes expire in the process.
The 13th-ranked Keys fell to Zheng Saisai 6-4, 6-2 in her opener.
Wild card Zheng controls her own destiny with a strong shot to win the Orchid Group and advance to the semifinals.
Zheng needs to win only seven games, even in a loss, against Martic in the final Orchid Group round-robin match tomorrow. Martic needs to defeat Zheng and permit six games or fewer in the process to win the group and reach the semifinals.
Karolina Muchova broke three times in the final set, including a break in the last game, fighting off American Alison Riske 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a clash of Wimbledon quarterfinals.
The 11th-seeded Muchova, who was the last woman to qualify for Zhuhai, will face second-seeded Sofia Kenin in the final round-robin match of the Camellia Group. The winner will advance to the final four.