San Francisco, March 19 (BUS): Maria Sakkari eliminated defending champion Paula Padusa in the Indian Wells semi-finals on Friday and will face Iga Swiatek for the title after she battled the world number four after stalling in each set to defeat Simona Halep.
Reuters reports that Scary, who has won only two of her last 14 semi-finals, broke down in tears after reaching the biggest title match of her career with a 6-2 4-6 6-1 victory over Spain’s Padusa in the California desert. .
Al-Saqari, ranked sixth in the world, said, “I’ve been working all my life to get to this, to the later stages of the tournaments. It means a lot to me.”
The 26-year-old easily made it through the opening set but lost momentum in the second set before rediscovering her form in the first set and finishing with a nerveless finale, with a total of 28 winners.
Scary will play Swatek in Sunday’s final after the Pole beat Halep 7-6 (6) 6-4 in less than two hours to extend her winning streak to 10 matches and reach her second straight final after winning the WTA 1000. In Doha Last month.
“I know Ega very well… she’s an incredible player,” added Skari. “I respect her a lot and admire her. It will be an incredible battle for both of us and it will be a very difficult match for both of us.”
Swiatek, the former French Open champion, triumphed in the first set flip-flopping, saving two points in the tiebreak and hitting a 19-to-five winner for Halep to wrap up the opener.
Halep, a two-time Grand Slam winner, regained her momentum in the second set but was unable to overtake 20-year-old Sweetick, who recovered from a 4-2 deficit before winning 16 of her last 21 points. To seal the semi-final result.
Pushing into three sets in her first three games this week, Swiatek claimed her second straight win in straight sets, after being sent off 6-1, 6-0 by Madison Keys with a win over Halep.
“It’s crazy, honestly,” Swiatek said as she reflects on her second straight final. “At the start of the tournament, I didn’t even think about it, especially after winning in Doha… It really exceeded my expectations so I’m really happy.
“In my previous matches against Simona, I always felt like I had nothing to lose because I wasn’t always the favourite, but this match, I felt like my ranking was higher and obviously I was playing well.
“It was definitely exhausting but I wanted to fight to the end and be mentally stronger because Simona is a really strong player mentally. She doesn’t give up so I wanted to do it better. I am so proud that I did it.”
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