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China’s Xiyu Wang made it to her first-ever WTA Tour final in style, at home, at the Guangzhou Open. On Friday, Wang upset seventh seed Greet Minnen in their semi-final, 6-3, 6-4 in a match that lasted 89 minutes. Although Wang hit five double faults in the match, it didn’t hinder her much during the proceedings.
The 22-year-old put 40 of her first-serve points in of which she won 28. Minnen won 19 of the 29 first-serve points she put in. Wang also had considerable success in exploiting her opponent’s second serve. Of the 23 points played on the Belgian’s second serve, Wang won 14.
On the 25 points played on her second serve, Wang won just over 50%, or rather, 13 points. Wang’s serve was also the one that came under tremendous pressure. She faced 10 break points to her rival’s seven. But where she converted four of these seven break points, she also saved eight break points that were generated on her serve.
Across each set, she dropped her serve once although she didn’t waste time recovering lost ground to complete the day in straight sets.
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