Defending champion Jelena Ostapenko remained unbeaten with a 6-1 7-6 (7-4) win over Liudmila Samsonova in the semifinals of the BLG BNL Paribas Luxembourg.
Ostapenko cruised to a 6-1 5-1 lead, but she was unable to serve it out twice. Samsonova came back to fby winning six consecutive points from 1-4 down to win the tie-break 7-4. Ostapenko converted each of her four break points.
Ostapenko has extended her winning streak at Luxembourg to 9-0. The Latvian player won her third career title at this tournament. She has reached her second final of the year after claiming the Eastbourne title last June.
Ostapenko hit 25 winners to 14 unforced errors and won 62% of her first serve points. She saved three break points to hold serve in the third game and won nine consecutive points. Samsonova did not convert four break points in the first set.
“At some point I stopped playing my game. I missed so many balls and I started to rush, but the key was to fight to stay in the match. I played really well in the beginning but I could not close it. I had to fight and enjoy ir”, said Ostapenko.
Ostapenko set up a final against Danish 18-year-old rising star Clara Tauson, who overcame this year’s Olympic silver medallist Marketa Vondrousova 6-4 2-6 6-4 in the second semifinal. The Danish player, who was a former world junior number 1 player, won her first WTA singles title in Lyon this year.
Tauson hit 41 winners to 20 unforced errors. She is the most recent player to beat US Open champion Emma Raducanu and pushed Ashleigh Barty in a two-set US Open defeat.
Tauson earned an early break in the opening game to open up a 3-1 lead after a couple of double faults fom Vondrousova. The Czech player fended off four set points in the next game and drew level to 3-3. Tauson hit a forehand to earn another break in the seventh game for 4-3 and cruised through to a 6-4 win in the first set. ’21
Vondrousova earned a break to take a 2-0 lead at the start of the second set. The 2019 Roland Garros finalist broke Tauson for the second time to force the match to the third set.
Both players traded breaks in the first two games of the third set. They held their next games to draw level to 4-4. Tauson broke serve in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead before closing out the match.
Greet Minnen and Alison Van Uytvanck claimed their second WTA doubles title, as they beat Kimberley Zimmermann and Erin Routliffe 6-3 6-3 in just 59 minutes. Minnen and Van Uytvanck faced a break point and converted their three of their six break points.