Czech Tomas Berdych outpowered top seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to take a 6-4 4-6 6-1 victory on Saturday and reach the final of the China Open. He will face Marin Cilic, who deployed his powerful serve to ease past fellow Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 6-3. In women's play, German 9th seed Andrea Petkovic overwhelmed Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu 6-2 6-0 to reach the final.
---- Petkovic and Radwanska in women's final
She will play 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who defeated Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-2 6-4. Tsonga was unable to take control of the on-form Berdych, who is one of his rivals in the chase for a spot at next month's World Tour Finals season wrapup in London. The world number 10 took advantage of 15 Tsonga unforced errors, pounding his way into the final with his eighth ace on match point. Cilic, outserved his opponent with 13 aces against nine from Ljubicic.
He broke serve to lead 5-4 before serving out for the first set. Ljubicic was up 3-1 in the second set but failed to make the most of his opportunities, dropping serve in the fifth game when his forehand clipped the net and fell wide. Cilic pounced on the opportunity and dominated the remainder of the match, eventually breaking his opponent to love in the final game for a 6-3 finish.
Radwanska takes a 4-0 winning record against Petkovic into the women's final. The Pole is looking for an Asian double after winning in Tokyo a week ago. She dominated Pennetta a day after the Italian upset world number one Caroline Wozniacki. Niculescu failed to hold serve the entire match as Petkovic claimed victory in just 61 minutes. The Romanian, who knocked out Li Na and Maria Kirilenko earlier in the tournament, is projected to rise to a career-high ranking of 35 next week. Petkovic will be playing her third final of the year after winning in Strasbourg and finishing as runner-up in Brisbane.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.