Photo credit: Berlin Tennis Open Facebook
Slipping on the lawn, a mid-air Marketa Vondrousova still zipped a forehand winner down the line.
Even when she was off her feet, Vondrousova landed decisive drives.
Making the ball dance, Vondrousova stunned world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-4 to charge into her seventh career final at the Berlin Tennis Open.
Playing her first Tour-level semifinal in 14 months, Vondrousova slashed her fourth ace down the T to seal a superb performance in 81 minutes.
It is Vondrousova’s first career win over a reigning world No. 1 as she advanced to her first final since she defeated Ons Jabeur in an inspired run to the 2023 Wimbledon championship.
"I didn’t play for a long time," said Vondrousova, who was sidelined for three months with a shoulder injury and wore taping on her shoulder today. "I’m just happy to be back healthy, and so grateful to play these matches.
"When I saw the field here, I was like, ‘OK, let’s just try to win the first round,’ and then, you know, now this is happening."
World No. 164 Vondrousova, who is now 4-4 lifetime vs. Sabalenka, is the lowest-ranked woman in history to reach the Berlin final.
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The talented left-hander from Czechia will play for her third career title against Wang Xinyu.
The 49th-ranked Chinese qualifier defeated 2021 Berlin champion Liudmila Samsonova 6-4, 6-1 for her first Tour-level final. Wang was 0-6 in Tour-level semifinals before today's win, but maintained control against a red-hot Samsonova.
Masterfully mixing her spins and speeds, Vondrousova played enchanting angles throughout defusing Sabalenka’s prodigious power forcing the Belarusian to dig low balls off the turf at times. Vondrousova was better on big points: She saved six of seven break points today.
In a clash of Grand Slam champions, each woman saved a pair of break points in their opening service game.
Then Vondrousova made her move breaking at 30 for a 2-1 lead.
Spreading the court with the lefty slider serve wide on the ad side, Vondrousova held firm, building a 4-2 lead.
Dipping devious slices, Vondrousova sometimes drew Sabalenka forward and used the lob as a weapon in the opening set.
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Lashing a couple of drives right off the sideline, Vondrousova broke again for 5-2 then served out the first set at love.
Yesterday, Sabalenka fought off four match points surging through the final six straight points to rally past Elena Rybakina 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(6) to battle into her first Berlin semifinal.
Today, Sabalenka drew first-break blood in the second set for a 2-0 lead.
Undaunted, Vondrousova followed a forehand forward and snapped a smash scoring the love break back in the third game.
Rallying from love-30 down, Sabalenka staved off two break points holding for 3-2 then turned up the tension in the sixth game. Vondrousova denied a break point leveling at 3-all.
In a remarkable improvisational effort, Vondrousova was falling down when she fired that forehand winner down the line in the ninth game. Though Sabalenka smacked an ace to erase a break point, she netted a forehand to face a second break point.
This time, Vondrousova ran down a smash, forcing the Belarusian to hit one more ball. In a winning position at net, Sabalenka clanked a backhand volley into the tape as Vondrousova broke again for 5-4.
Still, Sabalenka went down swinging, gaining triple break point in the final game.
On this day, nothing would stop the 2021 Olympic silver medalist. Vondrousova coaxed four errors in a row for match point.
Wasting no time before serving, Vondrousova zapped that ace down the middle and broke into a wide smile of success with her first win over a world No. 1—and first final in two years.