Anett Kontaveit will put a 19-match indoor win streak on the line in Sunday’s St Petersburg final against top seed Maria Sakkari.
Estonian Kontaveit, seeded second, added another notch to her perfect record under the roof as she defeated former Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-4 for her first final of the season.
Sakkari .beat Camelia Begu of Romania 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4 after more than three hours on court.
“It was a very tough match,” the winner said. “She played really, really well.
“The level of the match was super-high. I had to come up with some very tough shots and very physical tennis.
“But I’m very glad I did it, and I’m super excited to be in the final here.
“I still have one more match to go, and I’m going to try my best to win the tournament.”
Kontaveit needed a more efficient 71 minutes to earn her place in the title match in Russia’s second city.
The winner of consecutive indoor titles last season at Ostrava, Moscow, and Cluj-Napoca becomes the first player to earn 19 or more consecutive indoor wins since Justine Henin won 22 straight from 2007 Stuttgart through 2010 Stuttgart.
Kontaveit concluded with 29 winners, with Ostapenko producing 38 winners, counterbalanced by 41 unforced errors.
Main photo:- No. 1 seed Maria Sakkari will meet Anett Kontaveit in Sunday’s final in St. Petersburg – by WTATennis.com
