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Liudmila Samsonova and Belinda Bencic will clash for the Abu Dhabi Open trophy on Sunday. The eighth seed needed three sets to come through in her semi-final on Sunday while the second-seeded Bencic won her semi-final in straight sets.
Samsonova put an end to Qinwen Zheng’s dominance in the event with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 win. She needed two hours and 19 minutes to get the win for herself. The only time in the match Samsonova lost her serve was in the second set.
In the first set, she didn’t face any break points and in the third set, she saved all three break points she faced. For the match, 19th-ranked player in the world won 79% of her first-serve points to Zheng’s 72%.
But Samsonova won 43% of her second-serve points to her opponent’s 51%. Zheng, however, finished the match with one more point to Samsonova – 87 to the latter’s 86.
Abu Dhabi Open: Will Belinda Bencic finally beat Liudmila Samsonova?
After the win, Samsonova said, “It was an amazing match, Qinwen played unbelievable.
At the end, I think I was more solid, and this was the key, I think – and of course the serve, I was serving very well”. Then, speaking about adjusting her tactics after dropping the second set, Samsonova said, “I was trying to be more aggressive for sure, after the second set.
I was trying to push myself to do better, and be more aggressive. And then of course I was very, very focused on my serve”. Meanwhile, in her semi-final against sixth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, Bencic needed just an hour and 32 minutes to score a 6-2, 6-3 win.
The Brazilian put 78% of her first-serves in but won 54% of her first-serve points. The Swiss put in 61% of her first serves but won 74% of her first-serve points. Bencic also won 60% of points on return on Haddad Maia’s second serve while winning 76% of her second-serve points.
She saved the only break point she faced while converting four break points on Haddad Maia’s serve. Going into the Abu Dhabi Open title clash, Liudmila Samsonova has a 3-0 win-to-loss record against Belinda Bencic. All three of those matches were played in 2021.