The semi-finals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch open with my favourite match-up of the day featuring Jelena Jankovic and Belinda Bencic. Before this tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Jankovic had not won a match on grass since the 2013 Wimbledon Championships when she defeated Johanna Konta in the first round. JJ has had some decent results on grass in the past but has looked particularly comfortable on this surface in the past few years. Jankovic is in the last four of Rosmalen with three straight set wins, beating Tereza Smitkova (7-5 6-4), Andrea Hlavackova (6-1 6-4) and Annika Beck (6-4 6-1). All three players are outside of the top 60, but wins on grass for Jelena are precious and should not be overlooked. She seems to be enjoyed herself in Rosmalen where she is also in the doubles final with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

While Jelena is enjoying her best week on grass for some time, Bencic has enjoyed her best week on tour in 2015. For just the second time this year, Belinda has won three matches at a tournament. After wins over Jessica Pegula (6-2 7-6) and Alison Van Uytvanck (6-3 6-2), Bencic fought threw a gruelling quarter-final against Kristina Mladenovic, saving three match points and winning through, 7-6(4) 6-7(4) 7-5 in two hours and 51 minutes. Bencic had a match point at 7-6 6-5 40-30*. She didn’t take it and Mladenovic went onto win the second set tiebreak and go up early in the third set.

When I loaded up live scoreboard, Bencic was down match point at 5-3. The 18-year-old eventually broke to 5-4 and then powered through the last three games of the match, serving out the match to 30. Belinda has lost a few tight three setters in the last month or two including against Daria Gavrilova in Rome (7-6 5-7 6-2) and Ana Konjuh in Prague (7-5 6-7 7-6). This was a biggggg win for Belinda and she seems to be rolling on the grass, which is a good surface for her.

Bencic v Jankovic is a fun match-up… the pair first played at the US Open last year where Bencic scored a 7-6(6) 6-3 en route to her first ever Grand Slam quarter-final. Jankovic levelled up the head-to-head with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory at Indian Wells earlier this year in what was one of the best matches of the tournament. Jankovic should be the fresher of the pair, but I think Bencic is more comfortable on this surface. I think the win over Mladenovic will have meant a huge deal to Bencic and will give her the confidence to come through this match against JJ. I’m out tomorrow morning but will catch up with the match in the afternoon with the intention of not checking the scores beforehand!

Prediction: Bencic d. Jankovic in 2 tight sets

WTA ‘s-Hertogenbosch semi-final prediction

Camila Giorgi d. Kiki Bertens in 3 sets