AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Top seed Elina Svitolina will play in the final of the WTA Tour event in Auckland for the second time after beating American teenager Iva Jovic 7-6 (5), 6-2 in a semi-final on Saturday.
The 13th Svitolina also reached the final in 2024, when she lost to the American Coco Gauff.
Svitolina’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be seventh-seeded Wang Xinyu of China, who defeated fourth-seeded Alexandra Eala of the Philippines 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in the other semifinal.
Svitolina looked a bit tired on the first Saturday after a nearly three-hour quarter-final against Sonay Kartal on Friday evening, which she won 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
She dropped serve twice in Saturday’s first three matches and trailed 3-0 against 35th-ranked Jovic, the No. 8 American on the WTA Tour. Svitolina broke back twice to level at 4-4, but dropped serve again, allowing Jovic to serve for the first set at 5-4.
But Jovic lost her serve to love, and Svitolina took the set to a tiebreak where she led 6-1 before taking the set on her third chance.
She made short work of the second set, breaking Jovic in the third and fifth games and closing the match with two aces in her final service game.
Svitolina will be joined all week by her husband Gael Monfils, who will take part in the men’s tour event in Auckland from Monday.
“It’s nice to win in straight sets,” Svitolina said. “Yesterday was a big battle and today also in the first set. Iva played very well and I really had to fight back, dig deep and try to find my level. I am very happy that I can finish this match in two sets to save some energy for the final.”
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