Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia continues to make history at the Canadian Masters, taking place in Toronto, by reaching the semifinals of the tournament alongside Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep and Jessica Pegula.
Haddad, the first Brazilian in history to reach the semifinals of a WTA 1000 tournament, won on Friday in three sets against Swiss Belinda Bencic who knocked out Spanish Garbiñe Muguruza on Thursday.
Haddad, 26 years old and number 24 in the world, dominated Bencic (12) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and 11 minutes.
The Brazilian player, who was the big surprise of the tournament in Canada and defeated world number one Iga Swiatek on Thursday, based his success on the strength of his serve.
Haddad made two straight service points, to none from Bencic and made three double faults, two less than the Swiss.
In addition, he won 75% of points played on his first serve, to Bencic’s 64%. It was Haddad’s first victory over Bencic in three matches.
Haddad will now face Czech Pliskova (14) who, on Friday, defeated another surprise of the tournament, Chinese teenager Qinwen Zheng, world number 51.
Pliskova needed three sets to oust the 19-year-old Chinese promise with a score of 4-6 6-4 6-4.
Pliskova, a finalist at last year’s Canada Masters, had 10 straight service points to Zheng’s 6. Both players committed the same number of double faults, 8, in a match that lasted two hours and 34 minutes.
Zheng will give the surprise. He won the first set after coming back from 0-3 down. In the second set she also came back from another 0-3 down and had a break point of service when the scoreboard showed 5-4 in favor of Pliskova.
In the end, the 30-year-old Czech veteran allowed him to win the match.
In the other two quarterfinal matches, Romanian Simona Halep (15) defeated American Coco Gauff (10) 6-4, 7-6 in one hour and 47 minutes.
Halep, who has beaten Gauff in their four previous meetings, will play in the semifinals against fellow American Jessica Pegula (7), who on Friday beat Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (46) 6-3, 6-3.
The 28-year-old Pegula needed just one hour and 27 minutes to earn a spot in the Canadian Masters semifinals.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
