WTA Tour
Anastasia Potapova storms into the Linz final
Anastasia Potapova has reached the final of the WTA 500 tournament in Linz in her first appearance as an Austrian citizen in Austria. The 25-year-old defeated unseeded Croatian Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 in Saturday’s semifinal.
In Sunday’s final, Potapova will face top-seeded Mirra Andreeva of Upper Austria in her seventh tour final. The 18-year-old Russian defeated Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4, 6-1 in her semifinal.
“That was the power of home-court advantage; I’m truly speechless,” Potapova said in her on-court victory interview. “My first 500-level final, my first time here as an Austrian. You have no idea what your support means to me. It means everything to me.” Potapova was the first ÖTV player to reach the semifinals in Linz since Judith Wiesner in 1997. She rated her performance against Vekic as an “eight or nine” on a ten-point scale. “I want to save something for tomorrow.”
Potapova has a chance at her second tournament victory in Linz
Potapova has the chance to win her second tournament title in Linz following her victory in 2023. Back then, competing for Russia, she won on hard court. Three years later, she’s playing just as confidently on clay. The 25-year-old hasn’t dropped a single set on her way to the final and also won the highly anticipated all-Austrian match against Lilli Tagger.
Against Vekic, who is four years her senior, Potapova had three break points right at the start, all of which the Croatian fended off. Potapova, who is still ranked 97th in the WTA rankings, nevertheless broke serve to make it 2-1 shortly afterward thanks to strong shots from the baseline; after 20 minutes, the Russian-born player led 4-1. Vekic, who started in the qualifiers, refused to give up, however.
The former tennis prodigy closed the gap to 3-4 and had break points to level the score at 5-5. Vekic’s unforced errors helped Potapova through this tricky phase. With an ace, she earned her second set point, which she converted. Potapova then immediately broke her opponent’s first service game and followed up with another break to make it 3-0. Vekic fought back, but Potapova held on to her lead and converted her first match point after 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Andreeva the Favorite in the Final
Top-seeded Andreeva struggled with her game plan against Ruse, who is ten years her senior, in the first set. The Romanian kept the match open with breaks and break-backs until 4-4, before Andreeva broke her opponent’s serve once more. After that, Ruse won only one more game. After 1 hour and 31 minutes, the tournament’s top seed converted her third match point to secure the victory.
Here are the match statistics for your reference:
“I’m very happy with the win; she’s a tough opponent. When she plays well, you can’t control it. I tried to accept that and focus on my own game. That was the turning point in this match,” said Andreeva. Against her former compatriot Potapova, she has won the last two of their three head-to-head matches so far. Most recently, she won convincingly in two sets at last year’s US Open.
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