Saturday, April 8, 2023

Charleston final scheduled for tomorrow, but we still need two finalists



Ons Jabeur (photo by Daniel Ward)

It rained almost all day today in the Charleston area, and Daniel Island was no exception. Play started late, and there was a long rain delay in the first semifinal, which was played between Ons Jabeur and Daria Kasatkina. Jabeur won the first set 7-5, then play ended and the players had to wait three hours before they could resume the match. Ons played cards and a board game with Belinda Bencic, and I heard that Dasha took a nap.

Daria Kasatkina (photo by Daniel Ward)

The second set was pretty exciting, with each trickster putting on her best show. But it was Jabeur, repeating the first set scoreline, who emerged the victor.

After the match, Jabeur told the press that "...just getting more titles was very important for me. Not just coming with one title, you know, coming with three. And I'm just going to learn from the other finals that I played, and definitely will give it all. And I think I have more experience."

photo by Daniel Ward

For her part, Kasatkina said that it wasn't the court condition that made it difficult for her--she was surprised by what good condition the court was in; rather, it was "...all the things, the stopping and first of all, we start later. Then we were just not sure if we're going to play the match or not with the on and offs, and just, yeah, it's not easy."

Following that match, top seed Jessica Pegula faced off against defending champion Belinda Bencic. Bencic won the first set 7-5 (the scoreline of the evening, one could say), but play had to be suspended during the second set tiebreak because it began to rain again. At the time of suspension, Pegula was up 4-2 in the tiebreak. She and Bencic will complete the match tomorrow afternoon, then--after suitable rest--the final will be played. Should Bencic win, the finalists will be the same two women as last year.

The doubles final is set. Top seeds Guliana Olmos and Ena Shibhara will play Danielle Collins and Desirae Krawczyk.

No comments: