UNSEEDED Slovakian, Viktoria Kuzmova and Italian qualifier, Elisabetta Cocciaretto will face off in the 2020 Copa Colsanitas fantasy tennis tournament final after winning their respective semi-finals today. Cocciaretto’s run to the decider was remarkably easy, knocking out second seed, Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-3 in 80 minutes of match play. For Kuzmova, it was a fair bit tougher, fightning back from a horrific 6-1 first set deficit to post a 1-6 6-4 6-3 victory over Taiwan’s Su Wei Hsieh in two hours and 10 minutes.

Kuzmova’s battle looked over before it began, down a set and a break midway through the second set, but turned it around to win five consecutive games and take out the second set and hold a break early in the third. That break was enough to see the Slovakian world number 87 take out the match in three sets.

Cocciaretto’s barn-storming win was a surprise despite her obvious form of late, defeating her fourth consecutive opponent inside the top 65. She now takes on her lowest ranked opponent of the tournament in Kuzmova, with the 158th ranked Cocciaretto sure to get a boost in the rankings should she win the title.

Both players are rising stars on the tour, with Kuzmova holding a career-high ranking of 43rd in the world, with the 22-year-old yet to win a singles title on tour. Cocciaretto is three years her junior, still a teenager having turned 19 in January this year. She too is yet to win a title, and her run to the final will present her with double her total prize money over her career. Interestingly enough, Kuzmova won the one encounter the pair has had – in Palermo last year – getting up 6-4 3-6 6-3.

SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[Q] Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA) defeated [2] Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-2 6-3
Viktoria Kuzmova (SVK) defeated Su Wei Hsieh (TAI) 1-6 6-4 6-3