Dutch whizz Bertens takes root as she blasts into Madrid Open final

MADRID: Unseeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens continued her sparkling week, roaring into the Madrid Open final with an emphatic 6-2 6-2 victory yesterday over France’s Caroline Garcia . The world number 20 blasted her way past seventh seed Garcia in just 66 minutes, breaking serve four times and never surrendering a break point to move within sight of her second singles title of the year. Bertens, 26, had taken some big scalps already this week in Madrid, defeating Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals on Thursday, the day after knocking out world number two and Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki. “I’m really happy with the way I played. I think it was maybe not great tennis, what people want to see with a lot of winners, but Caroline is a great player,” Bertens told a news conference. “She likes when the ball comes from the hip so I was just trying to play as many different balls as I could. I think I did it pretty well.” Bertens will face a tough examination in today’s final against either Petra Kvitova or Karolina Pliskova, conqueror of world number one Simona Halep on Thursday. The two Czechs were due to meet later in yesterday’s second semi-final. “She played very well, she used the high ball very well,” said Garcia, offering generous praise to Bertens. “I couldn’t do anything about it. I tried different things, but it didn’t work. Of course, I’m frustrated. My performance today was not great. But she had a game plan and it worked well.”

Earlier world number one Simona Halep’s Madrid Open hat-trick hopes ended as she was overpowered 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-finals by inspired Czech Karolina Pliskova.

Halep, who has won the tournament for the last two years, had looked imperious on her way to the last eight, dropping nine games in three matches including ictory over Pliskova’s twin sister Kristyna.

But her winning streak in the Spanish capital ended at 15 matches as her 26-year-old opponent continued her impressive form on the red clay having won the Stuttgart title last month.

“I’m not stressing myself about the (ranking) points,” said Halep, who also has a lot of ranking points to defend in Rome having reached last year’s final.

“I’m not stressing myself about this busy schedule.

“I just want to enjoy it. I’m looking forward already to starting the next tournament. There is no pressure. I feel like it’s an opportunity to play my best tennis.

“Maybe I didn’t play my best game, but maybe she didn’t let me play my best game. She was really good.” – Reuters