No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka needed just 89 minutes to defeat Czech Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-4 and reach her third consecutive Brisbane International final on Saturday.
Muchova had defeated Sabalenka, of Belarus, in their past three meetings. But in Brisbane, Sabalenka was in control, staving off four break points and breaking Muchova – the No. 11 seed – once in each set to win.
In the other semifinal, No. 16 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine pulled off her third upset of the week, crushing No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula 6-0, 6-3 in 56 minutes. On the week, Kostyuk has defeated three top 10 players – Pegula, Mirra Andreeva and Amanda Anisimova – and now will face a fourth in world No. 1 Sabalenka.
She is winless in four matches against Sabalenka.
ASB Classic
China’s Xinyu Wang, the No. 7 seed, upset No. 4 seed Alexandra Eala to reach the finals in Auckland. New Zealand.
To advance, Wang had to come from a set down and save a match point in the second set of a match that lasted just under three hours. Wang started with the contest on her side, taking a 5-1 lead in the opening set only to have Eala, a Filipino, win six straight games to snatch the set.
In the final, Wang will meet No. 1 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who topped No. 3 Iva Jovic 7-6 (5), 6-2 in 94 minutes. Svitolina rebounded after Jovic took a 3-0 lead in the first set, sending that set to a tiebreak and then winning six of the final seven games in the second for the victory.
-Field Level Media
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