By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday March 7, 2020
Sofia Kenin withstood 22 aces and a firm test from Alison Van Uytvanck at the Open 6eme in Lyon to reach the final.
Photo Source: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Sofia Kenin battled past Alison Van Uytvanck in three consecutive tiebreakers on Saturday at the Open 6ème Sens in Lyon, 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 7-6(2) to book her spot in the final alongside Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany.
Kenin, who saved a match point in the second round to defeat Jaqueline Cristian of Romania, has now won three consecutive three-setters in Lyon.
She withstood 22 aces from the Belgian in the two hour and 27 minute contest and saved both break points she faced in the final set, and five of eight overall, to reach her second final of 2020 and first since she won the Australian Open.
Kenin finished with 29 winners. She took the tight first set in 46 minutes.
The World No.5, who is into her sixth WTA final, fell behind the hard-hitting Belgian in set two but made a comeback attempt and rallied from 5-2 down in the second set to force a breaker, but Van Uytvanck played a near perfect breaker to force set three.
Van Uytvanck finished with 38 winners and 28 unforced (against 29 winners and 40 unforced for Kenin) but the American pressured the Belgian's second serve just enough, winning 63 percent of points against it (26 of 41) to keep the pressure high on Van Uytvanck's return games and especially in the final set breaker.
Earlier on Saturday Friedsam notched her first career win over Kasatkina and has now won four consecutive matches for the first time since 2016. The German’s 6-3 3-6 6-2 victory. With a win she can climb into the Top 100 for the first time since 2016, when she reached a career-high 45.