From No. 112 to the Top 20: Aslan Karatsev's rise continues with Moscow title, but you wouldn't know it by his reaction

With a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kristina Mladenovic in Moscow on Saturday, Belinda Bencic reached the WTA Premier final and qualified for the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.

"I'm so happy I reached the Top 8," Bencic told the WTA. "It was a huge goal for me this season and so last-minute. I was so nervous before the match, but also reaching the final here tomorrow is amazing. I'm so happy."

The 22-year-old Swiss held her nerve to break at love at 4-4 in the second set and serve out the win on her first try. Sunday will mark her third final of 2019—after winning Dubai in February and reaching the final in Mallorca In June. As the No. 3 seed, she'll be a heavy favorite against either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who edged past Karolina Muchova, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-1.

After the Moscow final, the world No. 10-ranked Bencic will join a loaded eight-player field for the Shiseido WTA Finals in Shenzhen. The round-robin draw will feature Ashleigh Barty, Karolina Pliskova, Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep, Bianca Andreescu, Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina. It'll be Bencic's WTA Finals debut.

Bencic secures final Shenzhen spot with win over Mladenovic in Moscow