Fourth seed Aryna Sabalenka extended her career-best match-winning streak to 14 with victory over ninth seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-3 6-2 to reach the final of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open.
The Belarussian will meet Russian Veronika Kudermetova who edged out Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 7-6(8) 6-4 to reach her first-ever WTA singles final at the Zayed Sports City’s International Tennis Complex on Wednesday.
The week-long championship staged under the Professional Women’s Tennis Federation, and organised by Abu Dhabi Sports Council in cooperation with Mubadala, Zayed Sports City and Health Point for a total prize fund of US$565,530.
“I’m just focusing on the right things,” the World No.10 Sabalenka said after her win.
“This helps me to, first of all, not think about all these wins, and secondly, to keep winning.
“I think I just need to keep focusing on my game, keep focusing on the movement on the court, and try to do everything I can in the moment. I think this works really well.”
The World No.46 Kudermetova had gone 0-4 in her previous WTA singles semi-finals, but the Russian at last broke through to her first championship match appearance after her one-hour and 40-minute tussle against the Ukrainian teenager.
“I think it was a really tough match today,” Kudermetova said, during her post-match press conference.
“I think we were a little bit nervous. It was really tough, but I tried to be focused until the end.
“I think I have a little bit more experience than Marta. She’s really young, she’s 18. Today, I think it was the key, [that] I really have a little bit more experience than her.”
