Bencic seals WTA Finals place with Moscow final run

Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic secured a place in Sunday’s Kremlin Cup final in Moscow – and the final spot at the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen – with victory over Kristina Mladenovic.

Third seed Bencic saw off the Frenchwoman 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 35 minutes to set up a final against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The 22-year-old sealed the eighth and last WTA Finals singles place by reaching the final in Moscow and out-performing Kiki Bertens, who lost to Mladenovic in the quarterfinals.

“I’m so happy I reached the top eight. It was a huge goal for me this season and so last-minute,” Bencic said on court in her post-match interview.

“I was so nervous before the match, but also reaching the final here (in Moscow) is amazing. I’m so happy.”

Russian Pavlyuchenkova squandered a match point in a second set tiebreak, but came through 6-4 6-7 (6) 6-1 against the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova, who reached the last eight at Wimbledon last summer.

???????? A win in straight set! @BelindaBencic defeats Mladenovic, 6-3, 6-4, and advances to the finals of the #KremlinCup pic.twitter.com/RPjGV7WSkj

— WTA (@WTA) October 19, 2019