WTA 500 Abu Dhabi 2/6 - 2/12 2023

[Suliso]

She often is during this time of the year.

[ashkor87]

Cirstea, Kudermetova, Haddad Maia, Kontaveit, and Badosa would like to protest that statement...

Hmm..they are all gone now. Bencic remains standing.

[martini4me]

I'd been VERY impressed by Zheng Q. on the couple of occasions I saw her last year. Then she had a fairly poor start to the year. I thought, maybe too soon, and didn't pick her in predictions this week. And naturally, she's just won the second set 61 in her semi-final.

[Suliso]

Me too. I think she's a future Slam winner.

[ponchi101]

She's got a perfect build for tennis. Strong, fast, lite enough. I say: indeed, good chance of a slam in the near future.

[Deuce]

As good as Qinwen is - and as good as she may be in the future -, I feel that she lacked maturity in the match today. She wasn't able to carry her 2nd set momentum into the 3rd, and she kind of crumbled at important points in that 3rd set.

Still, by this time next year, I see her being in the top 10 - and ahead of Sabalenka.

All credit to Samsonova today, though - she rebounded nicely from a significant dip in the 2nd set.

[ti-amie]

Day 8 Order of Play

Stadium Court
Starts at 03:00 PM

Final
JPN S. AOYAMA/TPE H. CHAN vs BRA L. STEFANI/CHN S. ZHANG
UPCOMING
Final
RUS L. SAMSONOVA (8) vs SUI B. BENCIC (2)

[ashkor87]

Bencic vs Samsonova..my favorites...betting on S to beat B now..
She is a bit like Sabalenka, and this court is slow. Equally happy if Bencic wins, of course. But I have been calling out Samsonova as a future champion for more than a year, especially on slow courts

She has awesome power and her serve is great...her one weakness is she is a bit slow, on a fast court that hurts her. She will not have trouble reaching balls here .
This variety among players is great for the game..QZ with her quickness, and relentless ferocity, Rybakina and Samsonova with their effortless power, BHM with her volleying...all add color to the game..
.

[ashkor87]

Bencic is becoming the 'benchmark' player, along with Pegula- only a champion-class player can beat them .Halep was that player until last year ..

[Deuce]

After Samsonova ran away with the 1st set 6-1, Bencic fought for her life in the exhausting marathon 2nd set which lasted almost 90 minutes, winning it in a tiebreak.
Bencic seems to be showing more and more mental strength lately...

Onto the 3rd now...

[ashkor87]

well done, Bencic! squeezed it out finally..

[Suliso]

That's a great win for Belinda! Hopefully a big confidence boost for the tournaments to come.

[Deuce]

Yes - a very gutsy win for Bencic, saving a few match points in the 2nd set.

[ti-amie]

[Suliso]

Without looking it up I'd have guessed more than that.