WANG DOWNS MUGURUZA, IN HONG KONG OPEN SUMMIT CLASH

HONG KONG: China’s No.1 Wang Qiang staged an outstanding comeback on Saturday to defeat former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5 and reach her first Hong Kong Open final.

The world No.24 had already seen off Elina Svitolina just hours earlier in a rain-delayed quarter final — Wang’s highest-ranked top 10 scalp this year — despite admitting she had been shaking with nerves ahead of the restarted match.

Wang now faces unheralded Dayana Yastremska in Sunday’s final after the Ukrainian teenager eliminated China’s No.2 Zhang Shuai in the earlier semis.

PLISKOVA IN FINAL

TIANJIN(CHINA): Top seed Karolina Pliskova produced a ruthless display as she raced past Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 6-1 to reach the Tianjin Open final.

Pliskova, who won the Pan Pacific Open title last month, dropped just eight points on serve and broke Bacsinszky four times to reach Sunday’s final against France’s Caroline Garcia.

World No.6 Pliskova, currently eighth in the Race to Singapore standings, is battling for one of the three available spots in the season-ending WTA Finals, starting October 21.

PAES EYES TITLE

NEWDELHI: Veteran Leander Paes is one win away from winning his second title of the season on the Challenger circuit, reaching the final of the Santo Domingo Open with partner Miguel Angel Reyyes-varela.

The second seeded Indo-mexican pair prevailed 6-4, 7-6(3) over Argentine combine of Tomas Lipovsek Puches and Juan Ignacio Londero in one hour and 23 minutes. Paes and Reyyes-varela dropped serve twice but effected three service breaks to take the opening set.

The second set too saw two breaks each before Paes and partner won the tiebreak.