Vondroušová stuns top seed Sabalenka in Berlin semi-finals
Czech tennis player Marketa Vondrousova in action against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during their women's singles semi-final match of the Berlin Open tennis tournament at Steffi Graf Stadium. Hannes Albert/dpa
Former shock Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová is finding her form on grass again after defeating top seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-4 in the Berlin semi-finals on Saturday.
Liudmila Samsonova, the 2021 Berlin champion, meets Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu in the second semi later - ahead of Sunday's final of the Wimbledon warm-up.
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Czech Vondroušová was quickly in the ascendancy against the Belarusian, who then wasted the lead in the second set as the world number 164 stormed back.
"I enjoy being the underdog," the left hander told the Berlin crowd after beating a world number one for the first time.
"I didn't play for a long time," added the Czech, who missed three months due to a shoulder injury. "I'm just happy to be back healthy, and so grateful to play these matches.
"When I saw the field here, I was like, 'OK, let's just try to win the first round,' and then, you know, now this is happening."
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Vondroušová's only tournament wins came at the London classic in 2023 - the first ever unseeded women's champion - and in 2017 in Biel/Bienne. She also has a silver medal from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
This will be her first final since winning Wimbledon but she has now levelled her head-to-head against Sabalenka at 4-4.
Wimbledon begins on June 30 and Sabalenka, who has 20 singles crowns including two Australian Opens and one US Open, heads to the third grand slam of the year still without a career title on grass.
The Berlin semi came less than 20 hours after Sabalenka's marathon quarter-final against Elena Rybakina in the eastern German heat.
The WTA 500 tournament in Berlin's Grunewald, with prize money of around €1 million ($1.15 million), is used annually by many top players to prepare for Wimbledon.
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