Upper Austria Ladies: Alexandrova fights back to beat Vekic and reach final in thriller

Ekaterina Alexandrova reached the final of the Upper Austria Ladies by edging out Donna Vekic 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) in an epic encounter that lasted more than three hours.

The Russian, seeded second in Linz, fell a set down after a close opener was clinched by Vekic. The Croat broke late in the first set as both players struck the ball with confidence and purpose.

Alexandrova looked in trouble in the second, as Vekic moved a break up before being pegged back and taken to a tiebreak by a resolute showing from the Russian.

It was Alexandrova who then rose to the occasion to take the breaker, before a tense and tight deciding set again required a tiebreak to separate the pair.

From 5-1 down in that deciding tiebreak, Alexandrova rallied, fighting back to clinch it 8-6 and with it, the match.

The Russian levels up their head-to-head at 2-2 and moves into Sunday’s showpiece match where she will face the winner of the match between Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the top seed, and fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next.

The Russian defeated German qualifier Jule Niemeier (6-3, 6-0) and No 5 seed Anastasia Potapova (6-2, 7-6 (8)) ahead of her victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Vekic, ranked No 34, won against Ukrainian wildcard Dayana Yastremska (6-1, 6-1) and Frenchwoman Clara Burel (6-0, 7-6 (3)).

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

• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova