Qinwen Zheng (Twitter)
8th seed Liudmila Samsonova faces Chinese sensation Qinwen Zheng in the semifinals of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Open on Saturday.
The Russian star began the tournament with a come-from-behind win against Claire Liu. The American athlete won the first set but Samsonova showed her class in the next two sets to win the match 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. Samsonova had to fight hard to defeat Barbora Krejcikova in two competitive sets 7-5, 7-6 (8-6).
In the quarterfinals, Smasonova took on 4th seed Veronika Kudermetova. The former eased past her compatriot in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. Samsonova had a win percentage of 80 on the first serve and converted 3 out of 5 break points in the one-sided encounter.
The Chinese No. 2 has been sensational in the Abu Dhabi Open. She began with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win against Rebecca Marino in the round of 32. Zheng backed it up with a solid performance against Jelena Ostapenko. The 20-year-old had to fight hard to win the first set but in the second set, she convincingly defeated the former French Open champion.
Zheng played her best match in the quarterfinals of the Abu Dhabi Open. She blew away top seed Daria Kasatkina in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 to reach the semis.
The two players have faced each other on a couple of occasions and the head-to-head scoreline is evenly poised at 1-1. In 2021, Zheng defeated Samsonova in straight sets at the Palermo Ladies Open while the latter avenged the loss at the 2021 Japan Open.
Prediction: Liudmila Samsonova to win in three sets.
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