No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland overcame a first-set loss to defeat fourth-seeded American Jennifer Pegula 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday to advance to the San Diego final.
Swiatek tallied four aces and won 18 of 24 second-serve points (75 percent) to get past the semifinal round, continuing her stellar streak of play. She won the U.S. Open back on Sept. 10 and also made the AGEL Open final before falling to Barbora Krejcikova in three sets.
Saturday’s other semifinal match between the United States’ Danielle Collins and Donna Vekic of Croatia was suspended in the third set due to inclement weather. Collins was leading 4-6, 6-4, 3-2 at the time of the stoppage.
Transylvania Open
Italian Jasmine Paolini and Anna Blinkova of Russia both pulled off upsets in their respective matches to advance to the final at Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Paolini dispatched seventh seed Xiyu Wang of China 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, while Blinkova battled back to take a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 decision against fellow countrywoman Anastasia Potapova.
Nine double faults hampered Wang, and Paolini saved 7 of 11 break points (63.7 percent) to advance. Both Paolini and Wang had trouble maintaining their serve in the third set, but Paolini overcame her struggles by winning four of the last five points to secure the win.
Blinkova posted a whopping nine aces to Potapova’s one. She also converted 7 of 9 break points (77.8 percent) and won 40 of 62 first-serve points (64.5 percent).
–Field Level Media
