Women's Tennis Blog · May 10, 2019
Madrid PHOTOS: Halep, Bertens return to Madrid Open finals
The 2019 Mutua Madrid Open final will be a clash of last year’s runner-up Kiki Bertens and two-time champion Simona Halep.The world No.3 Halep moved into the Madrid final for the fourth time in her career, maintaining a perfect record in the semifinals of the tournament by beating Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-7(2) 6-0 on Friday. If Halep clinches the title, she’ll overtake Naomi Osaka at the top of the rankings.
After avenging her 2018 final loss to Petra Kvitova in yesterday’s quarterfinals, the seventh-seeded Bertens saved eight out of nine break points in the semis against eighth seed Sloane Stephens and fought off three set points in the second set to win 6-2 7-5 in one hour and 29 minutes.