Emma Raducanu’s journey at the Hana Bank Open ended on a sad note on Saturday. The sixth seed was forced to retire mid-match in her semi-final against the highest-seeded Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian was leading the Briton 4-6, 6-3, 3-0 at the time.
Raducanu came from down a break to the opener but her physical woes started manifesting as the match progressed. On the other hand, Ostapenko’s game had begun to click for her. Raducanu, who’s time in the event came to a stop on account of an injury to her left glute, had to take a medical time-out in the second set. In the third set, Ostapenko went up an early break before her opponent called time on the match.
Despite the nature of the outcome, the stats of the match weren’t disappointing. The higher-ranked player finished with 40 winners, 26 more than her opponent and had 29 unforced errors, seven more than Raducanu.
Hana Bank Open: Ekaterina Alexandrova sets summit showdown
The other semi-final of the day, between seventh seed Tatjana Maria and second seed, Ekaterina Alexandrova was completed in just an hour and nine minutes. The latter claimed a 6-2, 6-4 win over her older rival.
Alexandrova won 73% of her first-serve points to Maria’s 51% and 52% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 31%. Alexandrova dropped her serve twice across the match but also converted five of the seven break points that came her way on Maria’s serve. Alexandrova had 27 winners, 25 more than her opponent’s paltry two. She finished the match with a total of 63 points to the German’s 38.
For both Jelena Ostapenko and Ekaterina Alexandrova, the Hana Bank Open’s the second time they’ve reached the finale of a WTA tournament in 2022. Ostapenko won the Dubai Duty Free Open at the start of the season. Alexandrova reached – and won – the Libema Open title in S’Hertogenbosch.