The top seed Jelena Ostapenko faces the second seed, Ekaterina Alexandrova, in the finals of the Korea Open on Sunday.
The Latvian tennis pro has been tested in all but one of her matches in the tournament so far. She has held her nerves in crunch situations and now, finds herself on the brink of winning her second title in 2022.
Ostapenko began her campaign in Seoul with a hard-fought win against Boyoung Jeong. The 25-year-old faced Anastasia Gasanova in the second round and was once again pushed to the limit by the young Russian. However, Ostapenko’s experience helped her weather the storm, and she won the match 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. The former world No. 5 produced her best performance in the quarter-finals against Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva and won the match in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.
In the semi-finals, Ostapenko faced 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu. The British No. 1 bagged the first set as Ostapenko looked out of sorts. However, an injury to Raducanu in the second set restricted her movements and Ostapenko managed to turn the tide in her favor. Raducanu lost the second set and was trailing 6-4, 3-6, 0-3 when she decided to retire owing to the injury.
The 27-year-old has reached her second final this year. She won the Libema Open in June and has been in immaculate form in the Korea Open. She has bulldozed her way into the finals, having dropped just one.
Alexandrova faced Asia Muhammad in the first round and defeated the American 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. In the second round, she bamboozled Han Na-lae in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. In the third round, the Russian tennis pro put to close the match in two sets against Lulu Radovcic. The experienced Tatjana Maria locked horns with Alexandrova in the semi-finals. Maria didn’t play her best match but take nothing away from Alexandrova’s performance as she put the 35-year-old under sustained pressure to win the match 6-2, 6-4.
Both women would know a fair amount regarding what the other brings to the table as they have faced each other on six occasions. Alexandrova leads the head-to-head 4-2.
Prediction: Ekaterina Alexandrova to win in three sets.
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