TALENTED young Russian Polina Kudermetova will contest her maiden WTA Tour final today when she takes on world number one Aryna Sabalenka at Pat Rafter Arena. Kudermetova has plied her trade on the ITF and Challenger circuits mostly, but is through to the WTA 500 Brisbane International decider.

Kudermetova’s impressive run continued in the semi-finals with a regulation 6-4 6-3 victory over Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina. The world number 107 – who on the live rankings has cracked inside the Top 100 – defeated two seeds including Top 10 player Daria Kasatkina along the way in the Sunshine State.

In her win over Kalinina, Kudermetova served six aces and won 84 per cent of her first serve points, while also saving four of the five break points she faced. Her efficiency was poor (51 per cent), but she was still able to convert all three break points she generated on her opponent’s serve, and came away with the straight sets win.

“I’m so happy because for this big tournament and my first final. I’m so excited,” Kudermetova said post-match.

Armed with powerful ground strokes and versatility in her game, Kudermetova will be the heavy underdog against the best player in the world on Sabalenka’s favourite surface. However the 21-year-old did hit 40 winners in her one-hour and 25-minute victory over Kalinina.

Meanwhile Sabalenka looked imposing in her win over eighth seed Mirra Andreeva, another talented young Russian. While having lower ranked opponents than Kudermetova, Sabalenka has looked comfortable the entire way through, having not dropped a set across her four matches thus far, including her 6-3 6-2 triumph over Andreeva.

“I feel like it’s always the same tactic for me. I have to stay aggressive and put opponent under so much pressure and I am really glad that I was able to play such aggressive tennis,” Sabalenka said.

“It seems like everything was working really well for me. “She’s an amazing young player. “I’m pretty sure she’s going to be Top 10 for so long and very soon. “So I’m just happy to get this win.”