Beatriz Haddad Maia and Alison Riske will contest the final of the Nottingham Open on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, the Brazilian and American won their respective semi-finals.
Haddad Maia’s semi-final match ended with the retirement of Tereza Martincova who was dealing with an injury to her right knee. The seventh seed was leading the Czech 6-3, 4-1 after 71 minutes of play when the latter decided to stop playing.
After her match, the southpaw expressed her thoughts on the outcome of the match and mentioned, “Unfortunately, it is not the way I wanted to win. But I think I deserve to be here (in the final). I’m working very hard in all my matches. I think I gave everything, I left everything on the court, and I’m very happy to be in my first grass WTA final.”
Nottingham Open: Alison Riske finds her groove on grass
Haddad Maia’s opponent in the final, the sixth-seeded Riske needed three sets to quell her rival, Viktorija Golubic in their semi-final clash. Riske eventually posted a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win after almost two-and-a-half hours of play.
The Swiss won a higher margin of points off her first serves – 65% to Riske’s 59% but struggled on her second serves as compared to her rival. Riske won 50% of her second-serve points to Golubic’s 26%. Riske also saved nine of the 14 break points she faced while converting seven of the 12 break points on Golubic’s serve.
Speaking about the result, Riske said, “(Golubic) is extremely tough to play out here, especially in these conditions. It was a really challenging day, and honestly, it was a huge win for me just personally because it really took a lot from me to get over the hump today. I’m extremely proud of my effort.”
The Nottingham Open final will be the first meeting between Beatriz Haddad Maia and Alison Riske. While the former’s looking to win the first title of her career, the latter’s seeking the fourth.