Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig kicked-off her semifinal encounter against Belinda Bencic in impressive fashion before it was disrupted by rain.
At the rain-stricken Apia International in Sydney, Puig began her encounter again Bencic late in the evening. The world No.94 was by far the sharpest player at the start of the match. Bencic struggled in her two opening service games, winning just 36% (5/14) of her service points. The slow start by the Swiss player allowed Puig to race to a commanding 4-0 lead before the rain started to fell once again.
Due to the rain still falling at 22:00 local time, organizers confirmed that both semi-final matches will be cancelled until Friday morning.
All matches have been cancelled for this evening. Play will resume 10:30am tomorrow: https://t.co/gAWs1tTHeX #SydneyTennis
— Apia Intl Sydney (@SydneyTennis) January 14, 2016
In the other semifinal encounter, top seed Simona Halep managed to spend 39 minutes on the court against Svetlana Kuznetsova. During their brief encounter there were four exchanges of breaks between both players (two each). Trailing 3-4, Halep battled back by winning two straight games to edge ahead 5-4 before proceedings was postponed.
Halep is bidding to win her first ever WTA title in Australia ahead of next week’s Australian Open.
