Timea Bacsinszky came back from a set down to beat Simona Halep 4-6 6-3 6-2 in a re-match of the 2015 Shenzhen final to reach teh semifinals at the Miami Open for the first time in her career. The Swiss player will play agianst either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Ekaterina Makarova in the semifinal.
One day after recovering from a set down in her fourth round match against Agnieszka Radwanska, Bacsinszky needed three sets to beat Simona Halep in the quarter final. Earlier this week Bacsinszky also beat Ana Ivanovic.
In the first set Halep broke serve in the third game with a forehand winner. Bacsinszky broke back in the 8th game to draw level to 4-4 after a series of unforced errors from Halep.
Halep got another break in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead and served out for the first set to 30 to take the first set 6-4 as Bacsinszky made consecutive forehand errors.
The second set started with three consecutive breaks of serve. Halep broke back in the third game for 1-2 but Bacsinszky broke again to open up a 3-1 lead.
In the ninth game Halep hit a running forehand pass to save a set point when Bacsinszky was serving for the second set at 5-3. Halep saved the second set point but Bacsinszky closed out the second set on her third opportunity after 59 minutes.
Bacsinszky got an early break in the first game of the third set with her backhand- The Swiss player got a double break to race out to a 4-0 lead. Halep fell behind 1-5 as she hit a drop-shot wide. The Swiss player out on her first match point with a crosscourt backhand after two hours and 28 minutes.
Bacsinsky was watched from the stands by 2014 Swiss Olympic downhill bronze medallist Lara Gut.
“I came back from a long road. The first set was really tough. She is an awesome player and a great fighter. She has been an inspiration for me because I believe in hard work and she is one of the players who work really hard, so to be able to play that well against her and to catch the win is really amazing”, said Bacsinszky.
