Alexandrova saves match point to reach Abu Dhabi final; to face first-time finalist Bejlek

Ekaterina Alexandrova didn’t make it easy on herself, but she did just enough to reach the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open final, saving a match point before pushing past Hailey Baptiste in three sets Friday evening.

Abu Dhabi: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Baptiste won the first set and held a match point on Alexandrova’s serve at 5-4 in the second. Alexandrova erased it, held serve, and pushed the set to a tiebreak, where she won the final three points from 5-4 down to force a decider.

She held to start the third set, broke for 2-0 and, aside from a brief dip while leading 4-2, controlled the finish on her way to a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory in two and a half hours. The win sends her into her 13th career final at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level.

It also guarantees her a return to the Top 10.

“It feels great,” Alexandrova said with a laugh in her on-court interview. “I didn’t think about that during the match. (But) you know, after this difficult match, I think it’s pretty good news that you just told me.”

Other positives include the 33 winners she struck and the fact that she edged out Baptiste in the serving battle, but there’s still plenty to clean up ahead of Saturday’s final. She committed 59 unforced errors and struggled mightily at the net, winning just 4 of 13 points up close. 

She proved Friday she can overcome those numbers, but she’ll need to be sharper against Sara Bejlek, who came through qualifying and outlasted Clara Tauson in the semifinals to reach her first career WTA final.

Bejlek goes from qualies to first WTA 500 final

Bejlek entered the week outside the Top 100 and had to come through qualifying just to reach the main draw in Abu Dhabi, but she has looked the part of a true contender from the start.

That continued in the semifinals, when she took the first set before holding off a spirited Tauson in the decider to earn a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 win in 2 hours and 49 minutes, sending her into not only her first WTA 500 final, but her first tour-level final overall.

“I’m trying to fight for every ball no matter what,” Bejlek said in her on-court interview. “So I’m happy how it came (to be) today, but I’m super tired.”

She had yet to drop a set in any of her previous five matches this week, but Friday’s marathon pushed her to the limit. Her reward is a rise to a career-high No. 52 in the PIF WTA Live Rankings, with a chance to crack the Top 50 if she can defeat another Top 20 opponent in Alexandrova.

But first, she had to get through Tauson.

In the opening set, Bejlek saved two break points to hold for 5-4. That proved crucial, as after Tauson held for 5-5, she required a medical timeout for an issue with her right foot. The 20-year-old didn’t allow her opponent’s misfortune to distract her, however, as she stayed composed and won the last two games of the set, closing out a break in the final game with a running backhand winner.

Bejlek rattled off 11 straight points between the first and second sets, but Tauson quickly refound her footing, winning four straight games to take a 4-1 lead and sealing the second set with a forehand winner and a break of serve to force a decider.

The third set swung back and forth, as the pair traded breaks, but the decisive moment came at 5-all, when Tauson saved four break points in a marathon game that featured seven deuces before Bejlek finally broke for 6-5. 

She’d closed out the match with the biggest hold of her career to set up a first-ever meeting with Alexandrova.