The two best places, Krejcikova and Ostapenko, will go to the Birmingham final

The top two seeds in the Rothesay Classic will meet in Sunday’s final for the championship.

Czech No. 1 Barbora Krejcikova advanced to the championship match with a 6-3, 6-2 win over China’s Zhu Lin on Saturday.

Krejcikova will face 2nd seed Jelena Ostapenko in the final, after Ostapenko defeated 4th seed Anastasia Potapova 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in Saturday’s second semifinal.

Ostapenko leads against Krejcikova 4-2.

Krejcikova Cruises: In their first career meeting, 12th-ranked Krejcikova took 1 hour and 32 minutes to dethrone World No.39 Zhu. Krejcikova advances to her second final of the season after February’s WTA 1000 Dubai Championship.

“It definitely feels great, I’m really happy with how I played today,” Krejcikova said after her win. “Playing on grass is always difficult because the game can change quickly, so I’m happy with how I got through the match and to be in the final.”

With the win, Krejcikova continued her massive run of success in the tour-level semifinals. The Czech has now won 10 of her 11 semifinal matches in her Hologic WTA Tour career.

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2021 Roland Garros champion Krejcikova hasn’t dropped a set all week in Birmingham. Yläsiemen continued his solid form against Zhu, firing four aces and winning more than half the points while returning Zhu’s first serve.

Ostapenko is fighting for another victory: 2017 Roland Garros champion Ostapenko, meanwhile, needed 2 hours and 7 minutes to come back 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 their previous matches this week in three sets, and Saturday’s semifinal continued the same pattern. In the end, Ostapenko beat Potapova to three with five service breaks.

Ostapenko saved three set points in the first set at 5-4, but Potapova took the opening two games later by converting her sixth set point with a forehand. However, Ostapenko used his own fierce forehands to build a 4-0 lead in the second set, eventually tying the match at one set.

Ostapenko earned a critical serve break at 3-3 in the third set, where he hit four exceptional return winners to break away. Potapova’s level return from Ostapenko’s first match point sealed the win for the 2nd seed.

More coming…