BAD HOMBURG, Germany – Bianca Andreescu reached her first final in more than a year after Simona Halep withdrew ahead of their semifinal match at the Bad Homburg Open on Friday with a neck injury.
In her first grass-court final, Andreescu will play Alizé Cornet or Caroline Garcia on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Andreescu beat top-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
The Canadian´s last title win was her breakout US Open victory in 2019, when she beat Serena Williams. Her last final was against Ash Barty in Miami in April 2021, when she retired with an ankle injury.
Andreescu, who took time off to recharge and work on her mental health, missed the Australian Open before returning to the tour in April.
Andreescu reached her first semi-final in over a year, and first on grass, with a 6-4, 6-1 win over top-seeded Daria Kasatkina at the Bad Homburg Open.
The former US Open winner broke Kasatkina’s serve five times in a dominant showing. It’s the closest that Andreescu has come to a title since she took time off to recharge and work on her mental health, missing the Australian Open before returning to the tour in April.
The Canadian’s last title win was her breakout US Open victory in 2019, and her last final was in Miami in April 2021, AP reported.
During that time, Andreescu has developed her interests away from the court, making music and writing a children’s book inspired by her childhood on the tennis court.
Defending champion Angelique Kerber lost for the first time in Bad Homburg as Alize Cornet beat her 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
Cornet’s semi-final opponent is Caroline Garcia after the French player beat Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Lisicki was in her first tour-level quarterfinal match since 2018 after years of struggling with knee injuries.
Tsitsipas reaches Mallorca semi-finals
World number one Daniil Medvedev lost to Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-finals of the Mallorca Open, while second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the last four.
Medvedev was beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Bautista Agut who avenged his defeat by the Russian in last week’s quarter-finals at Halle.
“I had to play very good to beat Daniil. He’s the number one, the last champion here in Mallorca. He just beat me a few days ago. I played a really complete match,” said Bautista Agut according to AFP.
Bautista Agut broke Medvedev once in the first set and twice in the second as he earned a fourth win in five meetings with the US Open champion.
The loss marks the end of Medvedev’s grass-court season. He is one of several players banned from Wimbledon following Russia’s military war in Ukraine.
Bautista Agut takes on Switzerland’s 303rd-ranked Antoine Bellier in the semi-finals. The qualifier defeated Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.
Bellier is the lowest-ranked semi-finalist since Juan Manuel Cerundolo, then 335th in the world, triumphed in Cordoba in 2021.
Tsitsipas needed three sets to get past American Marcos Giron.
The Greek saved two break points to start the final set and then broke Giron in the eighth game before completing a 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3 victory.
“It was a lot of work. It was not easy,” he said.
Elsewhere, Powerful players Petra Kvitova and Camila Giorgi moved into the Rothesay International semifinals after they both picked up straight-sets quarter-final victories in Eastbourne.
No.14 seed Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion on the grass, eased past last remaining Brit Harriet Dart 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 25 minutes of play.
In their first meeting, Kvitova was a force to be reckoned with behind her delivery. The Czech, who won her two Wimbledon titles in 2011 and 2014, hit eight aces and was never broken. Kvitova faced just one break point, which came in the very last game of the match.
“I’m always trying to serve well; sometimes it’s working more, sometimes it’s not,” Kvitova said afterward. “I didn’t have a weak game, so it was nice to have for sure, especially at the end of the match when it’s always tough to close it out.”
The win gives Kvitova a needed boost in the 2022 season, as she is back to .500 on the year (13-13). Kvitova is into her first semifinal on tour this season, with quarter-final showings at Miami and Dubai her previous best results for the year.
Making her seventh appearance in Eastbourne, Kvitova is into the Rothesay International semifinals for just the second time in her career. She lost to Marion Bartoli in the 2011 Eastbourne final, mere weeks before Kvitova claimed her breakthrough major at Wimbledon.
Kvitova is now into her eighth career grass-court semi-final. Among active players, only Serena Williams (13), Angelique Kerber (11) and Venus Williams (10) have more grass-court semifinal showings.
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