Linette books final berth at Thailand Open
Poland’s world No.42 says she hit the ball harder and dictated proceedings in Hua Hin
>> HUA HIN: Fifth seed Magda Linette will be fighting for her second WTA title after booking her place in the final of the GSB Thailand Open presented by E@ yesterday.
Linette, who won in the Bronx last year, defeated Patricia Maria Tig of Romania 7-5, 6-4 in the semi-finals of the US$275,000 tournament at True Arena Hua Hin.
The Polish world No.42 will play either eighth seed Nao Hibino of Japan or Swiss qualifier Leonie Kung in today’s final.
Hibino upset top seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Her match against Kung was suspended for minutes in the first set due to floodlight failures.
In yesterday’s first semi-final, the first set could have gone either way but Linette, who reached the last four of the tournament in its inaugural edition last year, was the dominant player in the second as the Romanian world No.105 went for broke.
“I started a little bit too slow and gave her too much of the initiative. My coach told me to hit it harder and he was right. I started dictating the match, although I made a few more mistakes,” Linette said.
A love hold in the opening game of the match was an encouraging start for Linette, who also threatened to break in Tig’s first service game. Linette did indeed claim the opening break, but the Romanian, who made eight double faults as she toiled on serve throughout, showed fighting spirit to move 5-4 clear as the level of her opponent briefly dipped.
After that wayward period, the 28-year-old discovered her best form, stringing together three winners as Tig served for the set to level at 5-5.
Both players hit a purple patch at this stage, though it was Linette who was able to harness it better, holding after being forced to deuce then sealing the set when she put away an awkward high ball.
The second set proved to be a good deal quicker than the first, with the rallies shorter as Tig adopted a more aggressive approach.
While this won the 25-year-old some cheap points, it also wrought a high unforced error count and Linette was exerting pressure from her from the beginning of the set. This told in the sixth game as some wild striking from Tig resulted in the first break of the second.
The high-risk approach, however, paid off as Linette served for the match. She was unable to get into the game, which slipped away to love amid a flurry of big hitting.
But it proved only a temporary reprieve for Tig as Linette secured the match with a break in the following game.
Meanwhile, Austria’s Barbara Haas and Australia’s Ellen Perez will face Australian pair Arina Rodionova and Storm Sanders in the doubles decider.
Haas and Perez beat second seeds Peng Shuai and Wang Yafan of China 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals yesterday. Rodionova and Sanders won their semi-final on Friday.
CLIJSTER’S COMEBACK
Kim Clijster’s return to the WTA Tour will take place at next week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where she has been pitted against sixth seed Kiki Bertens in a headline first-round encounter.
The 36-year-old four-time Grand Slam champion has not competed on tour since the 2012 US Open.