By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday August 13, 2023
Samsonova, playing her biggest career semifinal, rebounded from a one-set deficit to reach the final.
Photo Source: Getty
Liudmila Samsonova shook off a lopsided opening set and rebounded dramatically on Sunday in Toronto, sweeping through 12 of the final 15 games to defeat Elena Rybakina and book a spot in the Omnium Banque Nationale final, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Samsonova, 24 and ranked 18, improves to 3-0 lifetime against Rybakina and has recorded a pair of Top 5 wins at the same event for the first time in her career
Samsonova took over the contest, breaking five times on seven opportunities across the final two sets.
The Russian will have to recover quickly and play Pegula in the final later on Sunday. She did achieve wins over Belinda Bencic and Sabalenka, the No.2 seed, earlier in the tournament, so the task certainly isn’t out of her reach.
Pegula, who defeated Iga Swiatek on Saturday to reach her third 1000-level final, owns a 1-1 main draw record against Samsonova, and also defeated the Russian in qualifying on hard court in Cincinnati in 2020.
All three of those aforementioned meetings between the pair have gone three sets
Samsonova will be bidding for her fifth career title; Pegula will bid for her third overall.