World No. 1 Serena Williams went from a breakdown in the opening set to produce a patchy 6-4, 6-3 win on Saturday over Elina Svitolina to reach the WTA final of the Western & Southern Open.
The top seed was far from efficient in the semi-final, appearing to lose her way on some shots, before squeezing through for a chance at a second consecutive Cincinnati title.
In the final she is to face Romanian third seed Simona Halep, who crushed former champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-1, 6-2.
Photo: AP
Halep is also to return to No. 2 in the world behind Williams as a result of her win and is to take the second seeding at the US Open starting on Monday next week.
Williams — who is trying to secure a rare calendar Grand Slam when the US Open begins on Monday next week — blamed her stuttering form on an elbow injury she has had for several months.
“I haven’t served much since the French Open, because I’ve had an elbow problem,” Williams said. “Even before the French, I didn’t serve much until the day before the tournament started.”
“I’ve been dealing with that for a long time. I’ll get through regardless,” she added.
“I don’t know how I turned the match around. I got off to a super slow start, but I managed to start going for my shots. I just told myself to dig deep,” Williams said.
Williams won her 47th match against just two defeats this season.
“I just need to serve with aplomb, and I’m not doing that right now,” she added.
The 21-time Grand Slam singles champion improved to 20-4 at Cincinnati, the last major event prior to the start of the year’s final Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows.
She is to play her third Cincinnati final in a row and is aiming for her fifth title this season. She hammered nine aces, but had eight double faults.
Halep has beaten Williams twice in the last two seasons, including an Indian Wells semi-final in March. She goes into the final without pressure, but dealing with some pain in her left leg.
“I have the pain, but it doesn’t matter when I play well. I only have one more match here and then I can recover for the Open,” Halep said.
“Serena is the best player and I have no pressure. Reaching No. 2 doesn’t matter to me much,” Halep said.
“I just want to win the match. I have confidence to win, maybe that’s why I played my best tennis tonight,” she added.
In women’s doubles, Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan defeated Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India 6-4, 0-6, 10-6 in their semi-final meeting. They are to face Australia’s Casey Dellacqua and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova in the final.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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