Qiang holds nerve to reach final in Hong Kong
Wang Qiang dug deep on Saturday to reach the final of the Hong Kong open. The 26-year-old from China finished her rain delayed quarter-final against top seed Elina Svitolina and then had a few hours to recuperate before taking on the former world number one Garbine Muguruza.
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Qiang's first venture on court resumed with her serving for her last eight match against the world number five at 5-2 up in the second set.
But she fluffed her lines. Svitolina held her own serve forcing the world number 24 to serve again for the match. There were no significant mistakes at the second time of asking.
"She had the confidence and she was playing really great tennis," said Svitolina after the 6-2 6-4 defeat. "I was missing a lot. My game was really off. It was a really bad performance from me so I was very disappointed that I couldn't play even 20 percent of the game that I can play."
In her semi-final against Muguruza, Qiang fought back from a set down to win 6-7 6-4 7-5.
She will play the 18-year-old Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska who reached her first final on the senior circuit following a 7-5 6-4 victory over Zhang Shuai from China.
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