Cincinnati Open: Kiki Bertens fights past Petra Kvitova to reach final as Simona Halep or Aryna Sabalenka await

Dutch player fought back from going a set behind to reach Sunday’s final

Saturday 18 August 2018 21:31 BST
Comments
Kiki Bertens celebrates her victory over Petra Kvitova to reach the Cincinnati Open
Kiki Bertens celebrates her victory over Petra Kvitova to reach the Cincinnati Open (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A determined Kiki Bertens rallied past Czech Petra Kvitova 3-6 6-4 6-2 to move into the Cincinnati Masters final on Saturday.

The Dutch player blasted 10 aces against world number six Kvitova to claim her seventh consecutive win over a top-10 opponent and second victory over Kvitova in nine days. She also beat the Czech in last week's Rogers Cup third round.

Bertens will face the winner of Saturday's second semi-final between world number one Simona Halep and Aryna Sabalenka for the title on Sunday.

"It was a really tough one, but I'm so happy to be in the finals here," Bertens said in an on-court interview..

"We've put a lot of work in to get more fit, and play more aggressive on the hard courts, and it's working out."

Petra Kvitova missed out on a place in the final
Petra Kvitova missed out on a place in the final (EPA)

Bertens, world number 17, lost the last five games of the first set but took the second in which there were seven breaks of serve.

The Dutch number one did not face a break point in the final set and dropped just three points on serve.

Kvitova had 48 unforced errors in the match, including eight double faults, and lost serve seven times in her third marathon three-setter in the Cincinnati sun.

Reuters

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in