Bertens wins semifinal at Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro

The defending champion of the Mutua Madrid Open showed her strengths to do it virtually on Thursday. The Dutch star dug in against Caroline Wozniacki and won 7-5 in a highly contested set of tennis. Bertens notched ten aces against the world number one that advanced her into the final against France’s Fiona Ferro.

The two best players of World Tennis Tour squared off in the second of two women’s semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro tournament. Caroline Wozniacki and Kiki Bertens never lost a match in round-robin play and coasted through their quarterfinal matches. With the opportunity to decide who the best gamer was between the two, the Eurostars dug in for a one-set match.

Bertens opened the match painting the lines and lighting up Wozniacki for the opening lead. A slight let up from the Dutch allowed the former world number one to get on the board. Bertens rallied back and kept the lead but her opponent stayed on her coattails through the next four games.   

After eight games it was four-all with Wozniacki putting down smash shots from the baseline for winners and aces. Bertens answered back in the ninth with a few of her own serves to take the 5-4 stand. Wozniacki refused to give up and force the set to go deep with the next game being critical to winning. Bertens ran smoothly in the 11^th to take the service game and used her angled shots to jump ahead on the 12^th.

In the end, it was Bertens in control as she reached match point comfortably to take the victory 7-5 and move into the final. “Caroline was hitting only winners so I knew I had to do something and then it was working and had to keep doing it,” she said during her match interview. “On the tennis court, I’m trying to find a way to win. It doesn’t matter how and today I did the same.”

Bertens would defend her actual title and become the first player to win both in real and virtual tournaments. “It’s gonna be tough,” Bertens said about her match with Ferro. “I played a few times with Fiona. Sometimes she was winning, sometimes I was winning so it’s gonna be really tough so let’s see and may the best one win.”