Moscow (AFP)
France's Kristina Mladenovic lost to the semi-finals of the WTA Moscow tournament (6-3, 6-4) on Saturday, beaten by a friend, Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, who qualifies for the first time for the Shenzen Masters.
The 26-year-old Northman (45th in the world) fails a second time in the final four after her semi-final in Zhengzhou, China, last month.
Faced with Belinda Bencic (10th), whom she considers "her best friend" on the circuit, Kristina Mladenovic did not carry much weight, committing too many unforced errors to repeat her quarter-final performance, where she dominated the 8th world, the Dutchman Kiki Bertens.
"We know each other very well, I tried to stay focused and to control my emotions, the match was really stressful," commented the organizers Bencic after his success.
At 22, the Swiss (10th), already victorious in Dubai in February, will try to clinch her second title of the season on Sunday against the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, winner of the other semifinal against the Czech Karolina Muchova (6 -4, 6-7, 6-1).
With this victory, Bencic also dislodges Serena Williams from eighth place in the Race, offering the last qualifying place for the Masters which will take place from October 27 to November 3 in Shenzhen.
"I was really nervous before the match because I realized at the last minute that I had a chance to qualify for Shenzen," said the 10th World, who will participate in his first Masters.
"I am so happy to have reached the Top 8. It was a big goal for me this season," added the Swiss, who in addition to her victory in Dubai also reached the final in Mallorca this season.
The other participants of the Masters will be Ashleigh Barty, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep, Bianca Andreescu, Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina.
"The eight players deserve to be there because it shows we had the strongest season and it was a big goal after all my injuries," said US Open semi-finalist Belinda Bencic. who has found this season the Top 10 for the first time since 2015.
The other finalist in Moscow, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, also finds her feelings after a complicated year 2018. Former world 13th, the Russian is in the final for the second time in Moscow after 2015.
© 2019 AFP