The Brazilian tennis player Bia Haddad, 26, continues to make history and is in the grand final of the WTA 1000 in Toronto, Canada.
The Brazilian defeated the Czech Karolina Pliskova, former number 1 in the world and currently ranked 14th in the world, in a semifinal played this Saturday (13).
The paulista came to be losing by 5 to 2 in the second part, but managed to turn around and won by 2 sets to 0, with partial 6/4 and 7/6.
The opponent in the final will be Simona Halep (15th), also former number 1 in the world. The Romanian passed the American Jessica Pegula (7th) in the other bracket, with a 2-1 victory (partials 2/6, 6/3 and 6/4).
With the result, Halep reached the 18th final of the WTA 1,000 in her career, equaling the American Serena Williams with the most decisions in this category.
Bia, in turn, will debut in a final of this level. It is the first time that a Brazilian woman reaches the decision of a WTA 1000 tournament. The match is scheduled for 1 pm this Sunday (14).
The two finalists have already faced each other three times, with two wins by the Romanian and one by the Brazilian.
Bia Haddad’s historic campaign in Toronto had already been marked by a 2-1 victory in the round of 16 over Polish Iga Swiatek, leader of the ranking and this year’s champion at Roland Garros.
It was the first time that a Brazilian managed to defeat a number 1 in the world. With the classification, Bia became the first tennis player in the country to reach the quarterfinals in a WTA 1,000.
In the next phase, the São Paulo also beat Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, 2-1, gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics and currently 12th in the ranking.
With this campaign, Bia Haddad has already secured an unprecedented entry into the world’s top 20, in the next update of the list. She will be the 14th place in case of a title, and 16th if she gets the runner-up.
She is currently ranked 24th, the best position ever achieved by a Brazilian tennis player — Maria Esther Bueno was considered the best player on the planet in the 1960s and 1970s, but the WTA and ranking did not yet exist.
Bia Haddad’s season had already been gaining prominence since the first half, when she managed to finish runner-up in doubles at the Australian Open, alongside Kazakh Anna Danilina.
In May, the Paulista won her first WTA 125 tournament, in Saint-Malo (France), and reached the final in Paris in the same category. That’s when she first entered the top 50 of the individual rankings.
The following month, Bia took another step in her career by winning a WTA 250 for the first time, in Nottingham (England). The campaign included a victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari, then number 5 in the world.
The triumph meant breaking a 54-year fast without Brazilian women’s titles on grass, in the top tier of world tennis – since Maria Esther’s last conquest, in 1968.
Bia even repeated the dose the following week, winning the WTA 250 in Birmingham. The walk to the title involved a 2-1 victory over Simona Halep in the semifinals.
The disappointment of the season was due to the early elimination at Wimbledon. After winning consecutive titles in preparatory tournaments, the Brazilian fell in her Grand Slam debut, against Slovenian Kaja Juvan (62nd).
In the doubles, this year the Brazilian won the WTA 500 in Sydney (Australia), also alongside Danilina, in addition to the double in Nottingham, in partnership with the Chinese Shuai Zhang.
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