Tennis News: Sara Bejlek often performed stunning comebacks at the Cincinnati Open, including turning things around from 1/5 in the first set tiebreak to beat world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round.
Once again, the 20-year-old came back from a set down — and 2/4 down in the deciding set tiebreaker about 2 hours later — to beat 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open.
The Czech tennis player successfully won the first WTA tournament title of her career as a qualifier at the Abu Dhabi Open last February, but since then, she has not won more than two matches in a row at a WTA tournament. Until finally at the Cincinnati Open, he managed to record five consecutive wins while overthrowing four seeded players and a former world number 1 player.
According to her, the key to her success in progressing the furthest in the WTA level 1000 tournament so far – in only her sixth appearance in the main draw of a tournament at that level – is very simple.
“I continue to believe. I just try to focus on myself, whatever happens on the other side of the field,” said Bejlek.
The Czech tennis player’s impressive series of wins so far also includes wins over her compatriots, Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Krejcikova, both of whom are players who have won WTA level 1000 tournaments, just like Sabalenka and Keys. Since the 2009 season, she has become the second player to beat four players of that status on her way to the semifinals of the WTA 1000 level tournament, following Pliskova’s achievement in Madrid eight seasons ago.
While the seven wins in eight days that took her to the tournament in Abu Dhabi were impressive — where she beat Jelena Ostapenko, Clara Tauson and Ekaterina Alexandrova — her run in Cincinnati may ultimately go down as the best week of her career so far.
“Right now, I don’t really know. I’m trying to focus on every match. Yes, it seems like that,” said Bejlek.
“I had a serious conversation with my team a few weeks ago and since then I feel everything is going quite well, I have more confidence in myself and have experienced physical improvements when competing on the field.”
For the sake of a ticket to the Cincinnati Open final, Bejlek will face the fourth seed, Cori Gauff or the tenth seed, Marta Kostyuk.
Article Tags: madison keys, cincinnati open, aryna sabalenka, sara bejlek
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/tenis/perjalanan-sara-bejlek-bercontinue-besar-ke-semifinal-di-cincinnati