Birmingham (UK), June 24 (IANS) No.2 seed Jelena Ostapenko on Saturday overcame Anastasia Potapova 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to set up a final clash with top seed Barbora Krejcikova in the Birmingham Classic tennis tournament, here .
Latvia’s 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.
The 2017 Roland Garros champion Ostapenko 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 Saturday’s semifinal continued that pattern. Ultimately, it was Ostapenko who prevailed with five breaks of serve to Potapova’s three.
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. However, Ostapenko used her own fierce forehands to build a 4-0 lead in the second set, eventually leveling the match at one set apiece.
Ostapenko earned the critical break at 3-3 in the third set, where she hit four exceptional return winners to break serve. At 5-4, a netted return by Potapova on Ostapenko’s first match point sealed victory for the No.2 seed.
–IANS
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