Teenage Swiss wild-card Rebeka Masarova, ranked 797th in the world, saw her fairy-tale run at the Ladies Championship Gstaad end at the semi-final stage on Saturday.
The talented 16-year-old, making her WTA Tour debut, had put out German fifth seed Annika Beck 7-5, 6-2 to set up a last-four meeting on the clay with fellow Swiss Viktorija Golubic, but Golubic proved too strong in a 6-3, 6-2 victory which took her into her first WTA Tour final on a day when both the quarter-finals and semis were played due to rain last week.
“It’s been an unbelievable week,” Masarova said. “It’s just amazing, I still cannot believe I beat three players in the world top 100 this week. I had been prepared mentally and physically for this tournament, and I’m happy for the experience I’m getting.”
Photo: EPA
Golubic was due to face Dutch third seed Kiki Bertens, who prevented an all-Swiss final with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/1) defeat of top seed Timea Bacsinszky.
“I feel really good after a tough week with all the rain,” Bertens said. “I’ve played a lot of matches in a short time, but I feel good, I’m just going to go for it in the final. I have a great feeling about my game.”
Masarova, who won the junior French Open title last month, was playing in her first senior event.
Photo: EPA
She defeated former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in the rain-delayed first round on Thursday.
Home favorite Bacsinszky had blitzed Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-0, 6-1 to power into the semis. The Swiss advanced unhindered in 55 minutes, breaking a helpless Larsson seven times.
World No. 105 Golubic saw off Germany’s Carina Witthoeft 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/4) in her quarter-final.
Bertens then added Bacsinszky to the day’s victim list after accounting for Russian Irina Khromacheva 6-3, 6-1 in the last of the quarter-finals under perfect sunny skies.
Bacsinszky was unable to earn revenge after losing a French Open quarter-final to Bertens this season with the Swiss plagued by nine double faults and dropping serve four times.
Bertens was chasing a second title this season after winning in Nuremberg on clay.
BUCHAREST OPEN
AP, BUCHAREST
Simona Halep came from a set down to reach the Bucharest Open final on Saturday and take a shot at her second home title.
Top seed Halep took more than two hours to see off Vania King of the US 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-3 for the second time this year.
That set up a final between Halep and seventh seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia, who has a 3-1 record against the Romanian world No. 5.
The pressure was on Halep to deliver after winning the inaugural Bucharest Open in 2014. She did not play in the Romanian capital last year.
Sevastova reached her second WTA Tour final of the year and underlined her best season in six years.
She dispatched Laura Siegemund of Germany 6-3, 6-2 and has not dropped a set in the clay-court tournament.
Sevastova won her only title in 2010 and did not reach a final again until the Wimbledon warmup in Mallorca, Spain, last month.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was