By Ahmed Abdelsalam
British player Harriet Dart reached her first WTA tour-level final with a three-set comeback victory over Chinese teenager Xinran Sun at the Guangzhou Open on Saturday. Dart won 5-7, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 in a match lasting nearly two and a half hours.
Match details
Sun, the 16-year-old ITF Junior World No. 1, took the opening set 7-5 after breaking Dart's serve three times. The second set was tightly contested; Dart saved multiple match points before forcing a tiebreak, which she dominated 7-1 to level the match.
Sun appeared to tire in the decider and required a medical timeout for treatment on her left side. Dart capitalized, sweeping the final set without conceding a game to secure the win.
Dart's reaction
"It's been a really long journey. I've wanted it so much, so badly - sometimes too much. To finally be here means the world," an emotional Dart said after the match. "I found it tough out there. It was a rollercoaster. I was really battling with myself. I'm proud of the second set and was able to turn it quickly."
Statistics and run
Dart won 68% of points on her first serve and 51% on her second serve, while striking eight aces. She converted seven of ten break points (70%). The victory continues a strong run for Dart, who came through two qualifying rounds before defeating Tatiana Prozorova, Janice Tjen, fifth seed Paula Badosa, and now Sun.
Final opponent
Dart will face either Spain's Kaitlin Quevedo or Austria's Lilli Tagger, the fourth seed, in the final on Sunday. A title would return Dart to the top 100 in the WTA rankings; she has already climbed to 101st place due to her performance in Guangzhou.
