A year after falling to a promising youngster in the final of the inaugural Hawaii Open, top-seeded Shuai Zhang will face yet another in her second straight appearance in the title match.
Coolly efficient on a chilly afternoon in Waipio, Zhang, ranked 36th in the world, swept into the singles final of the WTA 125K Series event with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Rebecca Peterson of Sweden in Saturday’s second semifinal at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park.
“I really want to win this tournament, that’s why I came back,” Zhang said, before adding, “and I love Hawaii.”
While Zhang was on the court for just over 84 minutes on Saturday, Su Jeong Jang of Korea put in a far longer day’s work before turning her focus to today’s matchup with Zhang in the 2 p.m. final.
Jang needed 2 hours and 22 minutes to end Julia Boserup’s charge through the draw with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win to earn her first berth in a WTA tournament final.
“It was a very tough match against Julia — she was giving good fight and I had good fight too and I played very well today,” Jang said. “My concentration was very good.”
While Zhang was rolling to her win, Jang headed over to a neighboring court for a rain-delayed doubles semifinal originally scheduled for Friday night. The possibility of a three-match day for the 22-year-old ended when the top-seeded duo of Asia Muhammad and Eri Hozumi advanced to the final, played later Saturday, with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Jang and Na-Lae Han.
Zhang, 28, breezed into last year’s final before losing to CiCi Bellis, then 17, who went on to earn WTA newcomer the year honors this season. While Bellis was a late scratch from the Hawaii Open field due to injury, Zhang again charged through her side of the draw to return to today’s championship match to face the 22-year-old Jang.
Today’s meeting will be a rematch of Zhang’s 6-2, 6-2 win over Jang in the quarterfinals of an ITF tournament in Tokyo two weeks ago. Zhang went on to win the tournament before heading to Hawaii to end the season.
“For sure I have a lot of confidence and also I played better and better every day,” Zhang said of the momentum she packed with her for the trip.
The 5-foot-10 Zhang controlled the action for most of her semifinal match against the heavy-hitting Peterson, who hadn’t dropped a set through the first three rounds.
“I’m not so powerful, so I have to play more control and try to make the opponent run,” said Zhang, who indeed kept Peterson on the move while winning 11 straight points to build a 4-1 lead in the first set.
A nine-minute rain delay in the second set did little to slow Zhang’s march to the final.
Jang, ranked 185th, split the first two sets with Boserup before racing to a 4-0 lead in the third. She fired four of her seven aces in the decisive set and said she took a more aggressive approach after dropping the second set.
“I just tried to come to the baseline,” Jang said. “The second set I was going (behind) the baseline, so I was going to move up (in the third).”
Boserup, the last American in the draw, reached No. 80 in the rankings in June, but struggled with injuries and illness after the U.S. Open. She had lost eight straight matches before knocking off the seventh and third seeds on her way to the semifinals.
“It meant a lot to get some wins this week and see the work paying off,” Boserup said.
“I just tried to keep fighting. (Jang) was playing a really high level today and getting balls back and making me work for the points. I just tried to keep fighting whenever I was down.”
In Saturday’s final match, Shu-Ying Hsieh, who attended BYU Hawaii, and sister Su-Wei Hsieh captured the doubles title with a 6-1, 7-6 win over Muhammad and Hozumi. The Hsieh sisters pulled off a remarkable comeback in their 0-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9 semifinal win over Lesley Kerkhove and Lidziya Marozava earlier in the day, winning the final nine points to earn a spot in the final.
