Mirra Andreeva advanced to her second WTA Tour final of the year on Saturday after beating Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4, 6-1 in the last four of the Linz Open.
Top seed Andreeva broke in Ruse’s opening service game of the semi-final, but then suffered back-to-back breaks on her own serve.
Romanian Ruse was broken to love in the eighth game though, and having pulled level at 4-4, Andreeva broke again in her opponent’s next service game to take the set 6-4.
The world number ten dominated the second set, breaking Ruse in the fourth and sixth games before serving out a 6-4, 6-1 win after an hour and 27 minutes.
Anastasia Potapova will be returning to the final for the first time since she won the title on her debut three years ago having defeated Donna Vekic 6-4 6-2 in the semi-final.
She took an early double lead over Vekic to go 4-1 up before the Croatian stormed back and had the chance to level, but Potapova was able to hold on and take the first set.
Her determination continued in the second set where she dominated to build a 4-0 lead before Potapova finally took her first win over Vekic in their last three meetings.
Potapova’s win makes her the first Austrian to reach the tournament’s final since it was added to the Tour calendar in 1991 as she represented Russia until December 2025.
It will be the pair’s fourth meeting, with the 18-year-old Andreeva having beaten Potapova in their last two match-ups, but they are yet to have played each other on clay.
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