On Sunday, top seeds Simona Halep and Anett Kontaveit will compete for the Transylvania Open crown in Cluj-Napoca. Both players cruised through their respective semi-finals on Saturday, winning in straight sets.
Kontaveit, the second seed in the draw, beat Rebecca Peterson 6-3, 6-2 in 63 minutes in the first semi-final to reach her sixth final of the season.
In the match, Kontaveit hit nearly six times as many winners as the Swede, with 23 to the latter’s four.
Kontaveit also kept her hopes alive of reaching the WTA Finals for the first time in her career by reaching the final.
The world number 14 needs to win the Romanian title this week in order to catch Ons Jabeur in the race.
Jabeur is now positioned seventh in the race.
Anett Kontaveit’s popularity continues to grow
“I’ve been feeling really good on the court, and today wasn’t as easy as the scoreboard seemed,” Kontaveit says about her performance.
I really had to fight for it. Everything’s been pretty automatic (for me) this week. I’ve been trying to get through each match as well as I can. I think I’ve been playing well, I’ve been playing aggressive, and my shots have a lot on them.
Before the quarterfinals, in the second round, I was feeling my body a little bit, but it’s actually been getting a little bit better. I really have the motivation and I’m trying to do my best out here.”
In the meantime, Halep defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-0, 6-1 to go to the finals in her home country.
The former world number one required only 62 minutes to win. Halep had one fewer winner than Kostyuk, with ten to the Ukrainian’s eleven, but just a third of the latter’s unforced errors, with 12 to Kostyuk’s 38.
Simona Halep and Anett Kontaveit will clash for the fourth time in their careers in the Transylvania Open final. Halep has won all three, the most recent of which occurred in the 2020 Australian Open quarterfinals.
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