Iga Swiatek, Wickmayer clash postponed in Warsaw, Laura Siegemund awaits in final
Jul 30, 2023
Warsaw [Poland], July 30 : World No.1 Iga Swiatek and Yanina Wickmayer will return to the court on Sunday at the Warsaw Open to finish their semifinal clash after a brief halt in the game, and the winner will be back later to face Germany's Laura Siegemund in the championship match.
The home favourite, Swiatek led Wickmayer 6-1, 5-2 in the semifinal, but couldn't finish off the win before the match was called off due to darkness.
The top seed had three match points on Wickmayer's serve in the ninth game and twice at 5-2 and 5-4 when serving for the match. However, the former World No. 12 Belgian came back to win back her revenge, assuring that she would advance to her first semifinal in six years on a different day.
Meanwhile, Siegemund travelled a long way to reach her first singles final in five years. She needed a total of 6 hours and 15 minutes on the court over the course of the quarterfinal and semifinal matches against Tatjana Maria and Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy to advance to the finals for the first time since winning the home 2017 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
In 2 hours and 56 minutes, Siegemund defeated fellow German Maria, who had 16 wins to 17 errors, by hitting 59 winners to 30 unforced errors.
"I have to say that the spectators, they carried me a little bit. Against Tadde, you have to win every point by yourself, she gives you nothing for free. I knew that. She's played like this all her life and it's very difficult because you keep making errors, and you need to believe in yourself," WTA quoted Siegemund as saying after beating Maria.
"I think the people enjoyed that I really took the courage and kept coming to the net, even if I failed many times and played terrible errors. But I kept doing it, and I think the people really appreciated this kind of offensive tennis and that gave me the courage to keep going," she added.
Whatever the outcome against Swiatek, Wickmayer will play again on Sunday. She and Heather Watson will face Weronika Falkowska and Katarzyna Piter, both from Poland, in the doubles championship match.
