Barbara Haas will clash with Ivana Jorovic in the final of the QNet Open $50,000 ITF women’s tournament here.
The unseeded finalists will play a final at this level for the first time in their careers. Barbara has never met Ivana in an ITF tournament, but got the better of her when they played in an under-14 event.
Though the semifinals on Friday went the distance, they followed contrasting routes.
While Barbara’s win over seventh seed Elise Mertens was achieved after nearly two-and-a-half hours, Ivana’s success was achieved due to her aggressive approach. The first set went 6-4 to Barbara while the second was won by the same margin by Elise. Barbara received treatment for back pain after this set.
The Austrian, however, recovered quickly and took control of the decider.
In the second semifinal, Ivana found herself a set down against second seed Anastasiya Vasylyeva.
Anastasiya explored the complete range of her skills to unsettle the Serb. However, her tactics became obvious as the match progressed and the teenager adapted well in time to prevail in three sets.
Liu-Lu duo winsIn the doubles final, the fourth-seeded pair of Chang Liu and Jia-Jing Lu breezed to a 6-3, 6-0 win over the second-seeded Marina Melnikova and Elise Mertens.
This was the Chinese pair’s second title this year.
The results: Semifinals: Barbara Haas (Aut) bt Elise Mertens (Bel) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; Ivana Jorovic (Srb) bt Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukr) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Doubles: Final: Chang Liu and Jia-Jing Lu (Chn) bt Marina Melnikova (Rus) and Elise Mertens (Bel) 6-3, 6-0.
