Upper Austria Ladies: Ostapenko breezes past Pavlyuchenkova to make the final

Jelena Ostapenko cruised past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3 without dropping serve to reach the final of the Upper Austria Ladies at the TipsArena in Linz.

The Latvian was in fine form as her trademark power-heavy game overwhelmed Pavlyuchenkova, who unable to land a much-needed break of serve despite generating seven break point opportunities.

Ostapenko broke twice in the first set and once in the second, without reply, to seal straightforward passage into her 16th WTA final.

Fittingly, it will be the top two seeds who meet in the final on Sunday, as Ostapenko will take on second-seede Ekaterina Alexandrova in the showpiece match, after the Russian edged past Donna Vekic in a three-set thriller earlier in the day.

En route to the semi-finals, the Latvian battled past qualifier Clara Tauson (3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7)) before beating qualifier Jodie Burrage (6-1, 6-2).

Pavlyuchenkova, ranked No 42, beat Italian Martina Trevisan (6-4, 6-0), Katie Boulter (7-6 (2), 6-4) and Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 4 seed (6-3, 6-2) in the previous rounds of the Linz tournament.

Linz WTA 500, other semi-final result (TipsArena, hard, USD 802.237):

• Ekaterina Alexandrova beat Donna Vekic (3): 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6)