Zhengzhou (China) (AFP)
Kristina Mladenovic (49th World) qualified for her first semifinal of the year, at the Zhengzhou WTA tournament, by defeating the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, N.3 World 6 -4, 4-6, 6-3, after a fight of 2 h 44 minutes.
"The match was so physical and I'm very proud to have won it, you know that (Svitolina) is the specialist in this kind of challenges and marathon matches," commented Mladenovic, French N.2 and winner of the N. 1 Caroline Garcia (N.31) on Wednesday.
The French took full advantage of the fatigue accumulated by Svitolina, forced by bad weather to play his match of the second round in the day.
Svitolina, semi-finalist of the last US Open, had to deliver three highly disputed sets to eliminate Kazakhe Yulia Putintseva 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5).
"I'm so happy to be in the semi-finals, I tried to play my aggressive game regardless of the opponent with a variety of moves, slices and amortization, and it worked well," she added. French who had to deliver a start of hard match to subdue the Ukrainian.
After leading 40-15, Svitolina had to give up her initial playoff and let her opponent lead 2-0. But Mladenovic was then forced to deliver a fierce fourth game with no less than 18 ties and six break points to save before confirming his break (3-1). A game that lasted 25 minutes.
On her way, the Frenchwoman led 5-1 and counted a first set ball. It was then that Svitolina woke up to line up three games of rank. Although she eventually lost the first run, her awakening then allowed her to equalize a set everywhere.
In the deciding round, Mladenovic led 3-0 thanks to devastating forehands. At 5-2, she led 40-0 before wasting three match points mainly because of her double faults. But a passing backhand allowed him to close the game to his fifth ball.
For a place in the final, Mladenovic will face the Croatian Petra Martic, winner of the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 after another marathon of 2 hours 38 minutes.
© 2019 AFP