By Adrianna Outlaw | Saturday, April 9, 2016
Camila Giorgi swept third-seeded Jelena Ostapenko to roar into her third straight Katowice Open final.
Photo credit: Radek Rogowski/Katowice Open
Camila Giorgi continues to turn Katowice in a comfort zone.
Ripping shots on the rise, Giorgi powered past third-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, 6-4, 6-3, into her third consecutive Katowice Open final.
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The 48th-ranked Giorgi reached her first final since she defeated Belinda Bencic to capture her first career title on the grass of 's-Hertogenbosch last June.
Four of Giorgi's five career finals have come on the hard courts of Katowice, where her fast, flat groundstrokes empower her to dictate play.
The fifth-seeded Italian will play either former Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova in tomorrow's final. Cibulkova pounded world No. 113 Pauline Parmentier, 7-5, 6-0, in one hour, 23 minutes.
Giorgi has won both prior meetings with Cibulkova, including a thrilling 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (4) triumph in their last encounter in Istanbul last year.
Prowling the baseline and cracking shots into the corners, Giorgi broke at love to take the first set.
The Giorgi return was a key component to today's match. Ostapenko served 72 percent, but won only 47 percent of her first-serve points.
Ostapenko stayed in step until the eighth game of the second set when Giorgi blasted a backhand return to break for 5-3.
Serving for her third straight Katowice final, Giorgi carved a beautiful running backhand pass down the line to open. On the Italian's first match point the pair produced one of the best rallies of the match. Giorgi played tremendous defense, including a stab slice backhand to prolong the point, but Ostapenko delivered the winner to save it.
Giorgi created a sharp-angle forehand for match point number two and closed a 76-minute victory on an Ostapenko error.