Thailand Open: Tsurenko books spot in final as Andreescu retires injured

Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko won against Canadian Bianca Andreescu, the top seed, 7-5, 4-0 to advance to the final of the Thailand Open at the True Arena Hua Hin on Saturday.

Tsurenko, ranked No 136, will play Lin Zhu next.

Andreescu retires with injury

Andreescu led 5-3 in the first set but then required treatment for what looked to be a right shoulder injury, when trailing 6-5. She called it a day at 4-0 in the second set.

“I completely understand how Bianca feels because I also had this long term injury I’m really sorry for her, I also told her after the match,” Tsurenko said. 

“I think that she’s an amazing player and she put me in so much trouble during this match, like the match was completely opposite to the one that I had yesterday. It was so much quicker, and also the way she’s playing every point like she has an idea in every point.

“So of course, she’s an amazing player and it was a big challenge for me to handle this. I was just saying to myself that I have to keep fighting and this is probably the main key that worked today.”

The 33-year-old Ukrainian defeated Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure (6-3, 4-6, 6-4), Russian Anna Kalinskaya, the No 4 seed (6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4) and German Tatjana Maria, the No 6 seed (6-1, 6-1) in the previous rounds of the Hua Hin tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Andreescu, ranked No 42, won against Harriet Dart (6-3, 6-4), Russian Anastasia Zakharova (6-2, 7-5) and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No 5 seed (6-0, 7-6 (3)).

Hua Hin WTA 250, other semi-final result (True Arena Hua Hin, hard, USD 259.303):

• Lin Zhu beat Xinyu Wang (7): 6-2, 6-4