THE Silicon Valley Classic and Winners Open finalists have been decided in both San Jose, USA and Cluj-Napoca, Romania, following straight sets victories across the board during the semi finals.

At the WTA 500 event in San Jose, fourth seed Daria Kasatkina and seventh seed Danielle Collins both overcame their respective opposition to earn finals berths. For Kasatkina, it required a 6-3 6-2 effort over top seed Belgian, Elise Mertens, claiming her title chance in 81 minutes to rustle up her third win over the Belgian and 30th victory for the year. Mertens was error-ridden throughout, piling on seven double faults as Kasatkina won 82.5 per cent of her first serve points.

“Even in two sets, I felt it was quite a high-intensity match,” Kasatkina said post-match. “I’m happy that I was able to close it in two sets, because I spent quite a lot of energy in the previous matches, and it was important to play this one as short as possible. I’m happy that I was able to do it.”

“You’ve been playing all these matches for the final, and this is the time to enjoy,” Kasatkina said. “In tennis, we have only one winner, and we will see who it’s going to be tomorrow.”

In Romania, Mayar Sherif made history, defeating Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu to become the first Egyptian woman to earn a WTA Tour-level final berth. In a big week for Egyptian sport, with a maiden women’s gold medal and a silver won at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Sherif claimed an impressive 7-6(1) 6-4 result to continue her solid form at the event this week.

“This Olympics we’re doing much better than other years,” Sherif said. “We’re getting more medals and playing with our hearts. I’m so proud of all of them. Being in a WTA final feels great, but it would also feel great to be in a final playing for gold.”

Despite having to save a set point to complete the first set, Sherif was consistent and held onto momentum to force errors from Buzarnescu, who made 19 unforced errors for her 17 winners. But the hometown hopeful had plenty of fans behind her, coming from 4-0 down in the second set to draw level at 4-4, piling the pressure onto 25-year-old Sherif.

“It’s never easy either way, but when she came back from 4-0 to 4-4 you feel even more pressure than facing just one set point against you,” she said. “I was struggling with the momentum – she started to play very good suddenly and I stopped hitting the ball. But I was calm because I knew what was going on, and I waited for my chance for things to go my way. I knew once I won the game for 5-4 I was not going to let go, and I did not.”

Sherif will take on second seed Andrea Petkovic next, after the German held off qualifier Aleksandra Krunic for a 6-4 6-2 result. While her Serbian opposition worked in overdrive, Petkovic rallied strong for a chance at her seventh career title, and first since 2015. She fired 17 winners throughout to stave off the Serbian, and despite hitting six double faults, led Krunic on all major stats at completion.

SILICON VALLEY CLASSIC SEMI FINALS RESULTS:

[4] Daria Kasatkina (RUS) defeated [1] Elise Mertens (BEL) 6-3 6-2
[7] Danielle Collins (USA) defeated Ana Konjuh (CRO) 6-0 6-2

WINNERS OPEN SEMI FINALS RESULTS:

[2] Andrea Petkovic (GER) defeated Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) 6-4 6-2
Mayar Sherif (EGY) defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROU) 7-6 6-4

Picture credit: WTA Tour