BERLIN (AP) — Donna Vekić will play two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová in the final of the Berlin Open after both won twice on Saturday.
The unseeded Vekić upset Maria Sakkari 6-4, 7-6 (8) in their semifinal, shortly after beating Elina Avanesyan 6-2, 7-6 (0) in their rain-delayed quarterfinal.
Friday’s play was washed out at the grass-court tournament in Berlin, forcing the postponement of all the quarterfinals to Saturday.
The sixth-seeded Sakkari defeated Markéta Vondroušová 7-6 (7), 6-1 but was unable later to fend off Vekić’s persistence in the semifinals. The 23rd-ranked Croatian took her fourth match point in the tiebreak to win in 2 hours, 16 minutes and advance to her second final of the season. It’s her first on grass in four years.
Kvitová defeated Caroline Garcia 6-4, 7-6 (3), then ended ’s-Hertogenbosch champion Ekaterina Alexandrova’s seven-match winning streak with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 semifinal win to advance to her 42nd career final.
Alexandrova was the only one of the four semifinalists not to play twice after Russian compatriot Veronika Kudermetova withdrew from their quarterfinal with a left hip injury.
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