The 2019 Mutua Madrid Open final will be a clash of last year’s runner-up Kiki Bertens and two-time champion Simona Halep.
The world No.3 Halep moved into the Madrid final for the fourth time in her career, maintaining a perfect record in the semifinals of the tournament by beating Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-7(2) 6-0 on Friday. If Halep clinches the title, she’ll overtake Naomi Osaka at the top of the rankings.
After avenging her 2018 final loss to Petra Kvitova in yesterday’s quarterfinals, the seventh-seeded Bertens saved eight out of nine break points in the semis against eighth seed Sloane Stephens and fought off three set points in the second set to win 6-2 7-5 in one hour and 29 minutes.
Our Jimmie48 was at both these semifinal matches, as well as at doubles semifinals — Gabriela Dabrowski‘s and Xu Yifan‘s victory over Vera Zvonareva and Jelena Ostapenko, plus Hsieh Su-Wei‘s and Barbora Strycova‘s triumph over Veronika Kudermetova and Galina Voskoboeva.
MORE PHOTOS FROM MUTUA MADRID OPEN 2019:
- Thursday: Bencic, Halep, Stephens, Bertens move into semis
- Wednesday: Favorites power into quarterfinals
- Tuesday: Osaka, Halep progress as Kerber withdraws
- Monday: Stephens beats Azarenka, defending champion Kvitova through
- Sunday: Osaka, Halep, Kerber advance to second round
- Saturday: Defending champ Kvitova wins as first-round action opens
- Friday: Top 5 qualifying seeds out in the first round as big names warm up
