On Sunday, June 16, the final match of the WTA-250 tournament took place in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands). Its participants were Russian Lyudmila Samsonova, the number two seed, and 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who received a wild card. Currently, the Canadian tennis player is number 228 in the world.
Before the decisive confrontation, Andreescu, who turned 24 today, had much more time to rest and prepare. In the semifinals, Bianca confidently beat Dalma Galfi 6:4, 6:2. But the match between Samsonova and Ekaterina Alexandrova (3) was extended for two days due to rain. Furthermore, Lyudmila had a chance to finish the match on Saturday, but she lost two match points. The decisive set took place today, and in it Samsonova quickly achieved victory 6:3, 6:7, 6:1.
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For Samsonova, this final was the first of the season and the eighth of her career. In 2023, the Russian reached title matches three times at WTA tournaments (Abu Dhabi, Montreal and Beijing), but she lost each time, although she had previously won four wins in four matches for the trophy. Andreescu reached the final for the first time in two years. In June 2022 she lost to Caroline García on the Hamburg grass, but won titles exclusively in the 2019 season. And of what kind: “thousands” in Indian Wells and Toronto, as well as at the US Open, in the final of which the opponent of Bianca was Serena Williams herself.
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As for personal meetings, before Samsonova and Andreescu faced each other only once. Bianca defeated Lyudmila at the hard court 500 in San Diego in 2022 by 7:6 (7:1), 4:6, 6:2. The final, by the way, started two hours later than planned, naturally due to the rain.
At the beginning of the game, Samsonova made quite a few inaccuracies in her service games. And if in the first game she escaped the break point, in the third she couldn’t do it. However, Andreescu could not confirm the breakup. The Canadian, who confidently won her first game, returned serve from the first break point in the fourth game 2:2.
The Russian failed to take advantage of her success. Lyudmila made inaccuracies and gave Bianca a second consecutive break, but she could not come back. Andreescu no longer allowed his opponent to face break points and in the tenth game he served to win the game from the first set point: 6:4 in 43 minutes.
Lyudmila Samsonova
Photo: Johannes Simon/Getty Images
In the second set, Samsonova started to play better on the baseline, chased it down and quickly went up 3-0 with a break. At some point, Andreescu began to move clearly worse and after the third game he asked for a medical break, after which he went into the stands for a long time. Bianca returned with duct tape on her left thigh.
The next two games remained in the hands of the Canadian: in the fifth game Lyudmila committed two double faults, including on a break point, but in the sixth game the Russian made another break and led 4:2. This finally allowed him to take over the set. Serving for the game at 5:3, Samsonova double faulted on the first set point, on the second she missed a forehand and on the third her opponent made a mistake: 6:3 in 45 minutes. In this set, Lyudmila made 17 unforced errors (against Bianca’s nine), but she also had a decent number of winners: 14 (against three).
At the beginning of the third set, Samsonova secured the advantage. Andreescu, who served in the first game, had great difficulty defending his serve: it took her almost 10 minutes. The Russian won her game to zero and immediately after achieved a break for 2:1. On the second break point, the rope helped her: the ball bounced off it and landed on her opponent’s side.
However, Andreescu was not going to give up. In the following games, Samsonova had to work hard to hold serve. But in the eighth game Lyudmila failed, she made several inaccuracies and the score was tied 4:4. The Russian had a great opportunity to earn the right to serve for the title, but in the ninth game she did not take advantage of a single break point out of three. And Andreescu failed in the eleventh game without winning a single point, after which Samsonova served to win the title on the first match point, ending the tournament with a decisive victory: 4:6, 6:3, 7:5 in 2 hours 29. minutes.
Thus Samsonova won the first title of the season and the fifth of her career. Despite her success, she will remain in 15th place in the WTA rankings. Thanks to her arrival in the final, Andreescu will recover 65 places in the rankings and will become the 163rd racket in the world. Furthermore, for the third consecutive year, the Russian tennis player won the tournament; Before that, Ekaterina Alexandrova won twice.
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Two WTA tournaments will be held next week: the “500” in Berlin, in which all the strongest will play, except Iga Swiatek, and a lower-ranked competition in Birmingham. Among the Russians, Daria Kasatkina, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Lyudmila Samsonova, Anna Kalinskaya and Veronika Kudermetova, who made it through selection, will arrive in the German capital, and Anastasia Potapova, Anna Blinkova, Diana Schneider and qualifier Elina Avanesyan will play in the United Kingdom .
