Lyudmila Samsonova a year ago, she won three of four tournaments in two months to extend her collection to four trophies.
This year, except for the finals in Abu Dhabi, she did not achieve significant success before arriving at the US Open Series and reviving the memories of the successful year 2022. She scored eight victories out of ten matches and played the most successful major tournament.
Last week in Washington as the defending champion, she was eliminated in the semifinals by the eventual champion Coco Gauffa and did not defend the title, now she lost even just short of the top in Montreal.
She entered the tournament with a lost set against Kateřina Siniaková, before gradually gaining momentum. In the second round, she didn’t give China’s Qinwen Zheng a chance, on Friday she managed a duel against world number three Aryna Sabalenková and Olympic champion Belinda Bencicová, and after a break on Saturday due to rain, she also managed a semi-final playoff against world number four on Sunday Jelena Rybakinová.
First WTA 1000 Final @LiudaSamsonova defeats Rybakina 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 to advance to her very first WTA 1000 final and face off against Pegula later today. #NBO23 pic.twitter.com/mpuywpaXoL
— wta (@WTA) August 13, 2023
Samsonova lost the first set in her eleventh overall and biggest semifinal to date, after less than half an hour, but quickly turned the tide. After an hour and 43 minutes of play, she won 1:6, 6:1, 6:2 and increased her lead to 3:0.
The 24-year-old native of Oleněgorsk lost all four matches against TOP 10 players this year, but in Montreal for the first time in one tournament she defeated two members of the elite ten and improved her overall record with them to 5:7.
2 – Liudmila Samsonova has defeated two top-5 opponents at the Canadian Open 2023 (Aryna Sabalenka #2 and Elena Rybakina #4) – more than in entire career prior to this tournament (one). Collecting.#OBN23 #NBO23 | @OBNmontreal @WTA_insider @WTA pic.twitter.com/HJS7q1ppKc
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) August 13, 2023
“Of course I’m happy that I’m managing a demanding program here and today I was able to completely change the game, which didn’t work at the beginning. Now I’m going to quickly recover and try to prepare as best as possible for the final,” said Samsonova, who recorded 26 winners and 28 unforced errors.
Another two hours later, she was on the same court again to enter her 6th final and the first at the WTA 1000 event. But she did not manage the match for the most valuable and overall 5th title. She lost overwhelmingly 1:6, 0:6 to American Jessica Pegula, who is five years older than her, who already managed to knock out world number one Iga Šwiateková in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Samsonova, the 18th-ranked woman in the world, secured a move to 12th place in Canada and equaled her career high.
• WTA 1000 MONTREAL •
Canada, tv. surface, $2,788,468
Sunday results (13/08/2023)
• Singles – final •
Pegulaová (3-USA) – Samsonová (15-) 6:1, 6:0
• Singles – semi-finals •
Samsonova (15-) – Rybakinova (3-Kaz.) 1:6, 6:1, 6:2
Article originally published for Livesport News.
2023-08-13 23:03:45
#Samsonova #played #tournament #life #winning #Rybakinová #lost #biggest #final
