TENNIS ACAPULCO WTA INTERNATIONAL – Maria Sharapova was forced to pull out of the Acapulco semifinal due to a gastrointestinal illness. France’s Caroline Garcia took advantage of the walkover to advance to the Acapulco International final where she will take on Swiss Timea Bacsinszky in the final. It will be their first ever head-to-head match between Garcia and Bacsinszky who are good friends outside the tennis court. Diego Sampaolo
Maria Sharapova was forced to pull out of the Acapulco semifinal due to a gastrointestinal illness. France’s Caroline Garcia took advantage of the walkover to advance to the Acapulco International final where she will take on Swiss Timea Bacsinszky in the final. It will be their first ever head-to-head match between Garcia and Bacsinszky who are good friends outside the tennis court.
Twenty-one year-old rising star Garcia will be looking to win her second WTA International title after lifting her first trophy in Bogotá last year. She will certainly improve her 30th place in the WTA Ranking next week. She helped France win from 0-2 down in the first round Fed Cup match against Italy in Genoa at the start of February.
Bacsinszky booked her berth in the final by defeating Bulgarian lucky loser Sesil Karantcheva 6-2 6-4. In the first set Bacsinszky rallied from 0-2 down by winning six consecutive games to win the first set 6-2. The Swiss player faced a tough challenge in the second set which featured seven breaks of serve. She had to recover from a break down three times but she broke serve to wrap it up after a 63-minute second set battle.
Bacsinzscy will play her fourth final after Luxembourg in 2009, Bad Gastein in 2010 and Shenzhen in 2015. In the Chinese city the 25-year-old Swiss player beat Petra Kvitova in the semifinal before losing to Simona Halep in the final. Bacsinzscy will move up from 37th to 33rd in the WTA Ranking next week.
