Belinda Bencic finally thwarts Sofia Kenin, due to face Linda Noskova in Pan Pacific Open Final

Belinda Bencic headed into her match against Sofia Kenin down on the Head-to-Head and not particularly favouring the tie but while it was a struggle she managed to survive in three sets and now goes into a bit of a coin toss of a final as she faces Linda Noskova on Sunday.

Bencic secured the victory 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-2 in two hours and 15 minutes and faces Noskova after Elena Rybakina withdrew ahead of their semi-final clash.

It marks Bencic's second time in which she has reached the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open albeit last time was as a spritely 18-year-old compared to now when she is now 28 and a mother. But she has managed this year to be one of the stories of the season.

A player who grinded this time last year on the smaller events and managed to carve out a niche in getting her status back with no real protection for her given she wasn't a Kerber, Osaka type player who had previously won Grand Slams.

But it was more of an Elina Svitolina type story in that unlike others who promptly retired, she thrived and won the Abu Dhabi Open earlier this year. She now has a chance to win another title and another WTA 500 at that to end a fantastic season albeit she is currently signed up to play next week. Whether she does likely will dictate on how she does in said final.

“It was a very difficult match, for sure,” Bencic said after the match. “I’m really exhausted at this point. I don’t know how (I got through it). I just tried to shorten the points, take more risks and try to go for it. Thankfully, today it went my way.”

“It was very motivating to see a full stadium,” she said. “Thanks to the fans and the crowd, we were able to fight, and both take out whatever we had in us.”

This after Elena Rybakina suddenly withdrew with injury prior to her match against Linda Noskova.

“I’m very sorry I can’t play today. I’ve been having problems with my back this week & can’t play 100%. I’m disappointed that my fans will not see me today but I hope to see you next year," she wrote in a statement. Albeit fans were a bit more dubious about whether she was actually injured.

Rybakina has got what she wanted in regards to her spot at the WTA FInals and while in reality it is admirable perhaps to decide to put Riyadh first given it starts at the end of next week, it is very much a kick in the teeth for the tournament when it looked like quite the possibility and while near exhausted last game, she didn't look particularly injured.

Linda Noskova now gets a golden chance to win a WTA 500 title albeit it perhaps creates more of a chance too for Bencic who will go into the tie pretty evenly matched with Bencic in a similar ranking spot and it could yet be a grueller for both again with the latter in particular surviving a marathon against Karolina Muchova last round followed by Kenin.

Noskova has now had her third retirement of the tournament with Uchijima, Kalinskaya and now Rybakina all withdrawing either during or pre match. To get to the final she has only had to defeat McCartney Kessler. So she should be wildly the fresher of the two compared to Bencic who has spent most of the past week on court it seems.