Ons Jabeur reaches Charleston Open final; Belinda Bencic vs Jessica Pegula suspended due to rain

Second-seeded Ons Jabeur booked a return to the WTA final in Charleston on Saturday, but she’ll have to wait to learn her opponent after rain halted the second semi-final. Jabeur, who finished runner-up to Belinda Bencic on the green clay courts of South Carolina last year, said a rain delay of more than three hours proved advantageous in her 7-5, 7-5 victory over third-seeded Daria Kasatkina. But the second semi-final, between top-seeded American Jessica Pegula and fourth-seeded Bencic was also interrupted, and with heavy weather expected to linger, play was halted for the night with their match in a second-set tiebreaker. Bencic had won the first set 7-5, but the second was knotted at 6-6 with Pegula up 4-2 in the tiebreaker when the match was stopped as the light rain that had fallen through several games intensified. Jabeur, runner-up last year at Wimbledon and the US Open, reached her first final of 2023 with her victory over Kasatkina. But the world number five, who was sidelined in February after knee surgery in the wake of the Australian Open, had to rally from two breaks down in the first set and a break down in the second. On Sunday she’ll be chasing her first title since a grass court triumph in Berlin last year. As Jabeur struggled with her first serve Kasatkina raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set, but Jabeur broke the Russian as she served for the set at 5-2. Jabeur was serving to extend the set at 5-3 when rain halted play for more than three hours, and the Tunisian came out of the break strong. She saved two set points to hold and won 12 of the next 15 points to pocket the set. “I have to thank the rain,” Jabeur said, adding it gave her time to talk to her coach and “reflect on what happened in the first set. “My game was there, I just needed to find something small,” added Jabeur, who was broken to open the second set but gained a decisive break in the final game to finish it out.

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