By Adrianna Outlaw | Friday, February 10, 2023

 

Beatriz Haddad Maia upset Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina for her sixth straight Top 10 win and Qinwen Zheng beat top-seeded Daria Kasatkina to reach Abu Dhabi semifinals.

Photo credit: Christopher Pike/Getty

Facing the elite continues to bring out the best in Beatriz Haddad Maia.

The sixth-seeded Brazilian surprised Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to charge into the Abu Dhabi semifinals.

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Haddad Maia withstood 19 aces from WTA ace leader and Australian Open finalist Rybakina.

The left-handed Brazilian saved four of five break points and hit her two-handed backhand crosscourt with ambition in a two hour, four-minute victory.



It comes the day after Haddad Maia worked three hours, 13 minutes to fend off feisty Yulia Putintseva 7-6 in the third set.

It is Haddad Maia's sixth straight Top 10 win—a streak that dates back to 2019—and sends her into a semifinal showdown vs. Belinda Bencic.



Earlier, the second-seeded Swiss saved all five break points she faced defeating American Shelby Rogers 7-6(5), 6-2. Bencic improved to 10-2 on the season.

Olympic gold-medal champion Bencic is playing for her eighth career title and second in her last three tournaments.

Last month, Bencic beat three Top 10 players in succession—Caroline Garcia, Veronika Kudermetova and Daria Kasatkina—to win the Adelaide Interional 2 title for her seventh WTA crown.



World No. 29 Zheng Qinwen dismantled top-seeded Kasatkina 6-1, 6-2, smacking four aces and saving all four break points she faced in a 78-minute victory.

The 29th-ranked Zheng will play eighth-seeded Liudmila Samsonova for a spot in Sunday's final.

World No. 19 Samsonova swept fourth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 6-3 saving all three break points she faced to advance to her first semifinal since she won the Tokyo title last September. Samsonova edged Zheng 7-5, 7-5 in a tight and hard-hitting Tokyo final, so tomorrow's semifinal is a rematch.

Zheng, who has not dropped a set in Abu Dhabi this week, is playing for her second career final and first since Tokyo last September