Top women’s seeds Krejcíková and Ostapenko meet in the Birmingham Classic final
Top seeded Barbora Krejcíková and No. 2 seeded Jelena Ostapenko will contest the finals of the Birmingham Classic on Sunday at 8:30am ET after going down different paths.
Krejcíková has not dropped a set all week after beating China’s Zhu Lin 6-3, 6-2 in England’s semi-finals on Saturday.
Ostapenko played her fourth consecutive three-set match as she defeated fourth-seeded Anastasia Potapova 5–7, 6–2, 6–4.
In a matchup of former French Open champions, Ostapenko leads head-to-head against Krejcíková 4-2, including winning their most recent match last month in the third round of the Italian Open. But they have never met on grass.
By beating Zhu, 12th-seeded Krejcíková returns to the top 10. She will play for her seventh singles title on Sunday and second of the year after the Czech won Dubai in February.
It took Ostapenko more than two hours to knock Potapova down. Potapova needed six set points to win the first set. Ostapenko built up a 4-0 lead in the second inning to even the set score.
The Latvian snatched the decisive break in the decider as she made four return winners and took Potapova’s service game at 3-3.
“It’s important to win games like this when sometimes you don’t play your best, and you just fight for every point,” said 17th ranked Ostapenko.
In her first final in almost a year, she is aiming for her sixth singles title.
Unseeded Donna Vekic in Berlin final
Donna Vekic will play two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the Berlin Open final after both won twice on Saturday.
Unseeded Vekic upset Maria Sakkari 6-4, 7-6 (8) in their semifinal, shortly after she defeated Elina Avanesyan 6-2, 7-6 (0) in their rain-delayed quarterfinal.
Friday’s play was wiped out at the grass tournament in Berlin, forcing all quarterfinals to be postponed to Saturday.
Sixth-seeded Sakkari defeated Marketa Vondrousova 7-6 (7), 6-1, but later couldn’t fend off Vekic’s tenacity in the semifinals. The 23rd-seeded Croatian took her fourth match point in the tiebreak to win in two hours and 16 minutes to advance to her second final of the season. It’s her first on grass in four years.
Kvitova defeated Caroline Garcia 6-4, 7-6 (3), then ended ‘s-Hertogenbosch champion Ekaterina Alexandrova’s seven-game winning streak with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 victory in the semi-final. final to advance to her 42nd career final.
Alexandrova was the only one of the four semifinalists not to play twice after Russian compatriot Veronika Kudermetova pulled out of their quarterfinal match with a left hip injury.
Alcaraz is about to regain the number 1 position
Carlos Alcaraz reached his first ATP final on grass and was one win away from regaining the top spot by beating Sebastian Korda 6-3, 6-4 at the Queen’s Club Championships in London.
Alex de Minaur is between Alcaraz and the trophy and the number 1 ranking.
Alcaraz and Korda played their first career semi-final on grass.
Korda, the first American to reach the Queen’s semifinals in 11 years, served nine aces but also made six double faults. His cut was regularly punished by Alcaraz’s heavy forehand.
Alcaraz won the only break point of the second set and held on.
Victory would give the US Open champion his fifth title of the year, his 11th overall tour title and place the 20-year-old Spaniard above Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings. seed.
Second-seeded Holger Rune also came to London as he had never won a tour level match on grass like Alcaraz.
De Minaur knocked out Rune 6-3, 7-6 (2), saving the three break points he faced and breaking the 20-year-old Dane’s serve twice.
The Minaur has pedigree on grass. The Australian won Eastbourne in 2021 and reached the last 16 at Wimbledon in 2022.
“I played decently on grass and I’m having a good week, and this was my best performance of the week,” he said.
De Minaur won the biggest title of his career – and his seventh – in February in Acapulco.
Zverev denied another shot at the German title
Alexander Bublik will play Andrey Rublev in the final of the Halle Open after victories in the semifinals on Saturday in Germany.
Bublik defeated Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-3, 7-5 and Rublev defeated Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-3, 6-4 on grass.
48th-ranked Bublik hit 14 aces and saved the only break point he faced against 22nd-ranked Zverev.
“The job is not done yet, there is one last game,” said the Kazakh player. “I’m happy, but I’m trying to stay focused.”
Zverev reached the Halle final in 2016 and 2017. He was aiming for his first title since 2021.
Bublik is looking for his second trophy of his career after his win in Montpellier last year, while Rublev is looking for his second of the season after winning Monte Carlo in April. The seventh-ranked Russian is aiming for his 14th overall title and his first on grass.
