Madison Keys in the final without trembling in Strasbourg. The American (16th in the world) easily qualified on Friday for the final of the Alsatian WTA 500 tournament by defeating the Russian Liudmila Samsonova (19th) in two short sets (6-1, 6-3). The match, which lasted 1 hour 17 minutes, lasted all afternoon due to two interruptions, including one of around an hour and a half due to rain.
Very inconsistent, accumulating unforced errors, Samsonova barely existed on the Alsatian clay against Keys, who is doing quite well this season on this surface (semi-final in Madrid, quarters in Rome).
This Saturday she will face her compatriot Danielle Collins, victorious over Anhelina Kalinina (56th) in two sets later in the day (7-6, 6-2). The number 3 seed respected the hierarchy against the 27-year-old Ukrainian, who created a surprise Friday morning by dismissing Marketa Vondrousova, 6th in the world and defending champion at Wimbledon, in three sets in the quarterfinals (5-7, 6-3, 6-2). The match, the last of the quarter-finals, had been postponed after a day of Thursday already very disrupted by rain.
Very impressive since the start of the week, Danielle Collins, who announced that she was playing her last season, triumphed this year in Miami – her first Master 1000 – and on the clay of Charleston. In the quarters, Collins had shattered the hopes of Frenchwoman Clara Burel (23 years old and 43rd in the world), beaten in two sets (6-1, 6-3). Burel had defeated the defending champion, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (17th) in the previous round.