Tennis Olympic champion Belinda Bencic from Switzerland has reached the final of the lawn tournament in Berlin and has the chance to win her second WTA title of the year.
The 25-year-old defeated Maria Sakkari from Greece in the first semi-final in 3:07 hours 6:7 (6:8), 6:4, 6:4. With more than 30 degrees in the Steffi Graf Stadium, Bencic lost the first set unluckily to a net roller, but fought back and won the at times high-class match against number two seeded Sakkari.
As in the previous year, Bencic is in the final of the 709,000 euro event, in 2021 she lost to Lyudmila Samsonova from Russia. In the second semi-final in preparation for the grass classic in Wimbledon (June 27 to July 10), the top seeded Tunisian will meet Ons Jabeur and French Open-Finalist Coco Gauff from the USA on each other. As the last German participant, Andrea Petkovic was eliminated in the round of 16.
Lisicki/Andreescu miss the doubles final
Former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki, on the other hand, missed out on making the final with her doubles partner Bianca Andreescu from Canada. The tennis duo lost in the semifinals on grass against the top seeded players Storm Sanders from Australia and Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic in 61 minutes with 1:6, 3:6.
Lisicki/Andreescu didn’t have a chance in the first set and couldn’t take advantage of a 2-0 lead in the second round. In the singles, Lisicki from Berlin failed to qualify for the main draw at her home game.
The 32-year-old last had her comeback celebrated after a year and a half of injury break and has one for the upcoming lawn tournament in Bad Homburg wildcard. In the first round, Lisicki meets Belinda Bencic there.