By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday October 30, 2021
Clara Tauson battled from the brink, saving 5 match points against Liudmila Samsonova to reach her third final of 2021.
Photo Source: Ladies Open Courmayeur
“I don’t know what to say – I thought I was finished in the tiebreak.”
Those were the words of 18-year-old Danish teen Clara Tauson after she rallied to steal victory on Saturday at the Courmayeur Ladies Open, saving five match points in the second-set tiebreaker to defeat third-seeded Liudmila Samsonova, 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.
With the dramatic victory the 49th-ranked Dane notched her second consecutive comeback from a set down and reached her third final of 2021, where she will face Donna Vekic of Croatia.
Vekic eased past Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, 6-2, 6-0 in 64 minutes.
It was a calm, composed performance from a young player that is in the midst of a breakout season and proving to be one of the best indoor players on the tour. Tauson has now won nine straight indoor matches dating back to her title run at Luxembourg, and she will bid for her third indoor title of the season on Sunday.
She had her hands full with hard-serving Samsonova on Saturday, but didn’t blink when she was on the brink.
“She’s such a big server, so I was just trying to guess where she was serving at the end,” she said. “I don’t know what happened.”
Tauson finished with 22 winners against 15 unforced errors, while Samsonova cracked 43 winners against 31 unforced. Both players saved three of the seven break points they faced but it was Tauson who found a way down the stretch. She rallied from 3-1 down and won the final two games of the match, breaking for 5-4 and producing a commanding love hold to seal the victory in two hours and 28 minutes.
It’s a victory that proves that Tauson, usually the more aggressive player on the court, can win in more ways than one.
“She was just pushing me all the time and just hitting so hard,” she said of Samsonova. “I was always on the defense. I like to play offense but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Today she was playing unbelievable so I just tried to put as many balls in the court.”