No.10 seed Belinda Bencic moved into the first clay-court final of her career with a 6-4, 6-3 semifinal victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Credit One Charleston Open on Saturday.
Bencic had lost in her two previous clay-court semifinals, including at Charleston in 2014, when she reached the semifinals as a 17-year-old qualifier.
Eight years later, Bencic is at last into the Charleston championship match after her 1-hour and 18-minute win over Alexandrova. With the win, Bencic claims a 3-2 lead in her closely-contested head-to-head with Alexandrova.
Bencic awaits the winner of the second semifinal between No.4 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and No.15 seed Amanda Anisimova of the United States.
By the numbers: Bencic, who won the Olympic gold medal in singles last year, is now into her 14th Hologic WTA Tour singles final overall. The Swiss star, who holds a career-high ranking of World No.4, is seeking her sixth career singles title.
Bencic, currently ranked No.21, is projected to re-enter the Top 15 after this week. She is projected to go as high as No.13 if she can capture the title.
Bencic pulled through multiple tight matches before making it to the final. She was two points away from defeat in her first-round match with Wang Xiyu, and she executed a comeback win in the quarterfinals over Paula Badosa, a player she had never beaten in three previous meetings.
More to come…
