LONDON/ BERLIN — No. 1 seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and No. 2 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia will square off in final at the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham, England.
Krejcikova saved four of five break points in a 6-3, 6-2 win over China’s Zhu Lin and Ostapenko rallied for a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win against No. 4 Anastasia Potapova of Russia in semi-finals.
Krejcikova, 27, is looking for her seventh career WTA Tour singles title. Ostapenko, 26, is seeking her sixth title and leads the head-to-head series 4-2, including a win in Rome earlier this year.
Ostapenko leads the head-to-head with Krejcikova 4-2. Ostapenko won their most recent meeting in straight sets on the clay of Rome earlier this year.
In their first career meeting, 12th-ranked Krejcikova took 1 hour and 32 minutes to oust World No.39 Zhu. Krejcikova moves into her second final of the season, following her title run at WTA 1000 Dubai in February.
“Definitely feels great, I’m really happy with the way I played today,” Krejcikova said after her victory.
“It’s always difficult to play on the grass because the game can change quickly, so I’m happy how I handled the match and that I’m in the final.”
With the win, Krejcikova continued her massive success in tour-level semifinals. The Czech has now won 10 of her 11 semi-final matches throughout her Hologic WTA Tour career.
2021 Roland Garros champion Krejcikova has not dropped a set all week in Birmingham.
The top seed continued her solid form against Zhu, firing four aces and winning over half the points when returning the Zhu first serve.
2017 Roland Garros champion Ostapenko, meanwhile, needed 2 hours and 7 minutes to come back from a set down against Potapova in their first meeting, and reach her first Hologic WTA Tour final of the season.
World No.17 Ostapenko and No.21 Potapova had won all of their preceding matches this week in three sets, and semi-final continued that pattern. Ultimately, it was Ostapenko who prevailed with five breaks of serve to Potapova’s three.
“It was a really tough match, and it’s never easy to play great players like Anastasia,” Ostapenko said afterwards.
“I was trying to play aggressive and to play my game. … I think it worked pretty well at the end, and the deciding moments, I felt like I played well.”
Ostapenko saved three set points at 5-4 in the first set, but Potapova took the opener two games later by converting her sixth set point with a forehand winner.
Kvitova, Vekic advance to Berlin final
No. 7 seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and unseeded Donna Vekic of Croatia each won two matches to advance to final in Berlin.
After quarter-final action was rained out, Kvitova followed up a 6-4, 7-6 (3) win against No. 3 Caroline Garcia of France with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova. Vekic eliminated Russia’s Elina Avanesyan 6-2, 7-6 (0) before beating No. 6 Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 7-6 (8) in the semi-finals.
Kvitova, 33, is seeking her 31st career singles title. The two-time Wimbledon champion is 4-1 all-time against Vekic, 26, who will try to win her fifth title and first on grass.
Kvitova, meanwhile, snapped Alexandrova’s seven-match winning streak with a 1 hour, 19-minute win in which she didn’t face a break point.
Alexandrova was the only one of the four semifinalists to not have to play twice, as Veronika Kudermetova withdrew from their quarter-final to start the day due to a left hip injury.
Kvitova and Vekic have played five times previously, with the Czech holding a 4-1 head-to-head edge. Kvitova also won their only grass-court meeting, in Eastbourne last year 6-1, 7-6(1).
Bublik reaches Halle final
Unseeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan will face No. 3 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in the Terra Wortmann Open final in Halle, Germany.
Bublik advanced to his first career ATP 500 final with a 6-3, 7-5 victory against German favorite and No. 9 seed Alexander Zverev.
Bublik hammered 14 aces and won 94 per cent (32 of 34) of the points on his first serve in the 88-minute match.
Rublev eliminated No. 8 seed Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain 6-3, 6-4 in other grass-court semi-final.
Rublev struck 12 aces and saved five of six break points, finishing the one-hour, 41-minute match with 29 winners and just nine unforced errors.
Elsewhere, top-seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz advanced to his first grass-court final and can reclaim the No. 1 spot in the world rankings with a victory in London against Alex de Minaur.
Alcaraz posted a 6-3, 6-4 win against Sebastian Korda in the semi-finals, saving four of five break points and tallying 20 winners to only five unforced errors against the unseeded American.
He won his only previous meeting against de Minaur in a three-set semifinal on clay last year in Barcelona.
The seventh-seeded Australian upset No. 2 Holger Rune of Denmark 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the Queen’s Club semi-finals.
He saved all three break points he faced, advancing after one hour and 40 minutes with 23 winners and nine unforced errors..
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