Three Grand Slam champions in one week
Sara Bejlek had never made it to a WTA 1000 semi-final. She has now. The 20-year-old Czech got past 20th seed Madison Keys, winning 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the Cincinnati quarter-finals in Mason, Ohio.
Keys is the third Grand Slam winner Bejlek has knocked out in this draw. She had already seen off Barbora Krejcikova in the second round, then world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the round before. Not many 20-year-olds can boast a run like that at a single event.
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A match decided by a handful of points
The numbers show how tight this one was. Keys won 71% of the points behind her first serve, Bejlek 70%. Both players won 47% of their second-serve points and saved seven of 10 break points.
The swing came midway through the second set. Keys was up a set and a break at 6-3, 3-1. Bejlek then took four of the next five games, including two breaks, to haul herself back level.
The tiebreak followed the same script. Keys led 4-2 before dropping three of her final four service points. Bejlek, meanwhile, backed up the work she has been putting in away from the spotlight. “I think it keeps getting better as the season goes on. We had a big talk with my team a few weeks ago and since then, I feel things have been going pretty well. I believe in myself more and I’m getting physically stronger on court,” she said.
Gauff waiting in the wings
In the semi-finals, Bejlek will face Coco Gauff. The American fourth seed swept aside Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-2, winning 63% of her service points to the Ukrainian’s 42%. It is her third straight semi-final after Wimbledon and Toronto, both of which ended at this stage.
Gauff says part of the reason is her improved work at the net, a move she used to avoid like the plague. “Chris Evert sometimes texts me to tell me to come to the net. I tell her yes, then I don’t do it,” she told reporters. The pair have never met. Bejlek, for her part, is chasing a second WTA title after landing her first in Abu Dhabi in February.
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