BOTH Jil Teichmann and Jennifer Brady needed an identical amount of time to secure respective semi-finals victories in the Top Seed Open at Lexington, winning in exactly 70 minutes over their opponents. Teichmann won 6-3 6-2 over United States’ Shelby Rogers to stop an all-American final, while Brady knocked off super young talent, Coco Gauff 6-2 6-4 to book her place in the hard court decider.

In what is the first of two warm-up events for players looking to compete at the US Open in a couple of weeks, Teichmann’s decision to forgo defending a couple of titles in Europe is paying dividends by making the Top Seed Open final. Coming into the match against Rogers she was favourite, but aware of Rogers’ potential for damage given the 116th ranked American had ousted top seed, Serena Williams in the quarter finals.

It was far from a perfect serving display – in fact it was a real mixed bag – serving at just 46.3 per cent efficiency, and recording five aces and four double faults. But what counted was her ability to win those first serves, and capitalise better than her opponent off her second serve. The Swiss up and comer ended up only dropping five points off that first serve, and almost breaking even from her second. Most important was Teichmann’s ability to completely take Rogers’ serving game away from the American, as her opponent had a much higher serving efficiency – 74 per cent – but won less than half her service points – 22 of 50 – in a performance she was unable to back up after a terrific semi-final.

Brady was able to nullify the impact off Gauff, serving up eight aces and winning an elite 84.6 per cent of points off her first serve, making life difficult for the teenager. Gauff had the higher serving efficiency and still won 65.6 per cent of her first serve points, but could only win 34.8 per cent off her second serve compared to Brady’s 57.9 per cent. Gauff also only created one break point opportunity – and was unable to take it – while Brady took four of eight to ensure she made it through to the final with an impressive 70-minute win.

Teichmann and Brady have played twice in their careers, with a 1-1 head-to-head. Both of those matches came last year, with Brady getting up at Cincinnati in three sets, 1-6 6-1 6-2, before Teichmann returned the favour at Limoges thanks to a 7-5 7-6 victory.