Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic are through to the final of the Adelaide International, a WTA 500 event following the Australian Open.
Reigning Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek eased past Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 6-3 6-2 in Friday’s first semifinals. A single break of serve in the fourth game was enough for the fifth-seeded Swiatek to claim the first set, while in the second set she saved a break point to hold for 2-2 and proceeded to win all the subsequent games to advance to the title match without dropping a set all week.
Having won 15 of her past 17 matches, Swiatek commented:
It was my goal from the beginning of the season to be a more consistent player, just play good week by week. I know it’s impossible sometimes. You’re just going to get tired at some point. But I felt pretty good from the beginning of the tournament.
The second Adelaide semifinal was a dramatic first meeting between second seed Belinda Bencic and unseeded Coco Gauff. The first two sets were decided in tiebreaks and the winners were players who trailed in those sets: Bencic recovered from 1-4 down and won the first set, while Gauff rallied from 1-4 down and saved a match point to take the match into a decider. Bencic raced through the third set to record a 7-6(2) 6-7(4) 6-2 victory against qualifier Gauff, who entered the semis having spent almost 10 hours on the court in Adelaide.
