Polona Hercog def. Maria Sakkari 6-4 6-2
Polona Hercog’s game, while she is riding the high end of a confidence cycle, can be a treat tow watch. Kuznetsova was on the receiving end of 20 winners in the first set in the quarterfinals yesterday and Sakkari’s fate today in the first set was not much different. The 48th-ranked Greek player tried to use every bit of her athletic ability to keep up with the steady onslaught of winners and drop shots flowing steadily from her opponent’s racket. She even saved a set point at 3-5, but Hercog’s form proved too much for her at the end as the 75th-ranked Slovenian wrapped the first set up 6-4. It was thanks to a sizzling start right out of the gates to go up a break, an advantage that Hercog held on to until the end of the set.
The only moment of concern during that set was when she led 3-2 and committed a rare couple of dismal errors – one on an easy overhead missed wide – to go down a break point. However, when you perform with confidence, those moments appear as nothing more than nuisances rather than turning points. Hercog quickly corrected course with two spectacular winners to hold serve and continue the ride. It was the first set that Sakkari lost this week, although that sentence does not accurately reflect reality since it was rather Hercog who won it.
Polona had experienced a letdown in her match yesterday after dominating the first set against Kuznetsova, therefore Sakkari needed to remain calm and keep pressing on the pedal. First few games of a set are often where shifts in balance occur in tennis matches. Maria also needed a few more first serves after serving at 44% in the first set – 27% at 4-2 down.
Losing a blank game on her serve to start the second set meant that the shift was not appearing anytime soon on the horizon for the Greek player. In fact, if anything at all, it was a repeat of the first set. Hercog held to go up 2-0 and here we were, once again, watching Sakkari trail Hercog by a break.
Hercog took it a step further by increasing her lead with a second break after a contested game at 3-1 in which Sakkari fought hard to stay within distance, ultimately falling short. Seemingly with “nothing left to lose” – I use quotation marks because that phrase is never true – at 2-5, she tried to take returns early and get to the net. It did temporarily catch Hercog off-guard and allow Sakkari to earn three break points at 0-40. It proved to be nothing more than a momentary glitch as Hercog climbed back to hold and end the match with a score of 6-4 6-2.
It was a convincing win for Hercog. She never wavered from her game plan and kept pushing Sakkari around from the beginning of the match to the end.
Pauline Parmentier def. Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3 6-4
The desired pattern of play was the same for either player in this match. It consisted of running around the backhand whenever possible, dictating play with heavy forehands, and approaching the net if the opponent’s ball landed short. Having a high first-serve percentage plays a significant role in this type of match since getting the upper hand on your opponent early in the point allows you to impose your plan while denying your opponent the same.
Hence, the fact that neither player served well early in the match could somewhat explain the four straight breaks to start the match. After two straight holds to get to 3-3, Begu had an error-prone game on the seventh game, losing her serve again with a backhand unforced mistake into the net. Parmentier now had a chance to break free late in the set, with her serve to follow at 4-3.
Begu helped her get to break points in that game on two separate occasions, at 30-30 and deuce, by missing an easy volley on the first, and hitting wide a routine forehand inside-out winner from inside the service line on the second. Although Parmentier could not capitalize on those two chances, she eventually broke the Romanian’s serve a few points later to become the first player to lead by two games at 5-3. All credit to Parmentier in the 5-4 game as she seized the first set-point opportunity that she got, to produce a spectacular forehand winner from a difficult position behind the baseline.
Second set began much like the first, with Begu breaking in the first game on the heels of Parmentier’s fourth double fault of the match. Begu was again unable to confirm the break due to a couple of untimely errors on forehand accelerations – last one coming on break point.
Parmentier, for her part, stayed a lot more composed than her opponent on crucial points, staying within her limits. For example, she would still keep some of the topspin on her forehand swings even when she went for clean winners, instead of flattening them out for warp-speed winner attempts like Begu was attempting. It ultimately led her to the victory, winning eight out of the last points to close the curtain on her opponent with a score of 6-3 6-4.
At the end of the day, Begu simply committed few too many errors on winner attempts, mostly with her forehand, like the ones that put her down 3-5 in the first set and 3-4 in the second. It’s a frustrating way to lose a close match because it means that she played with the right game plan and earned her chances to finish points but misfired on execution shots.
Tomorrow in the finals, it will be Polona Hercog aiming for her third WTA title, her first since 2012 (Bastad) taking on Pauline Parmentier who is, for her part, aiming for her third WTA title as well, first since 2008 (Bad Gastein).