Bianca Andreescu of Canada plays a backhand return to Cristina Bucsa of Spain during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Ng Han Guan
HUA HIN, Thailand (AP) – Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine reached her first final in four years after top-seeded Bianca Andreescu of Canada retired with a shoulder injury during their semifinal match at the Thailand Open on Saturday.
Tsurenko, in search of her fifth WTA title, was leading the 2019 U.S. Open champion 7-5, 4-0 when Andreescu stopped playing.
The former world No. 23 fought from 3-5 down to take the first set and reeled off eight straight games before Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., retired with a right-shoulder problem.
“Bianca is such an amazing player. She is capable of hitting all kinds of shots and gave so much trouble today,” said the 33-year-old Tsurenko, now ranked 136th. “But I was just fighting and I told myself positive things that I can do it. Unfortunately, she had to retire.”
The Ukrainian last lifted a WTA trophy in Acapulco in 2018 and hasn’t been to a final since Brisbane in 2019.
She will face Zhu Lin of China in Sudday’s final.
“She had some good wins in the Australian Open,” Tsurenko said. “She is one of the dangerous players in this tournament. She is going to give a good fight.”
In the all-Chinese semifinal earlier, Zhu benefited from a barrage of unforced errors from Wang Xinyu and prevailed 6-2, 6-4 for her first WTA final.
The world No. 54 player, who reached the last 16 at the Australian Open in January, relied on her solid baseline game to force errors.
“It was very windy, so I tried to be patient and keep my first serves in,” said the 29-year-old Zhu, who will team up with Wang in Sunday’s doubles final against Hao-Ching Chan and Fang-Hsien Wu of Taiwan.
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