By Chris Oddo | Saturday June 17, 2017
20-year-old Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva eased past No.5-seeded Ana Konjuh to book a spot in the Ricoh Open final.
Photo Source: Ricoh Open
Rising Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva is into her first career final. The World No.74 powered past No.5-seeded Ana Konjuh in the pair’s first career meeting to book a spot across from Anett Kontaveit in the final.
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The move to grass has proved fruitful for Vikhlyantseva—she had lost six in a row on the clay before entering the draw at ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
"Everybody has their favourite surface - clay, hard...but grass is my surface - and with a result like this, I like it even more,” the Russian told WTATennis.com.
Vikhlyantseva saved both break points she faced in the first set and broke at love in the fourth game to move ahead. It was all she would need.
In the second set the pair traded breaks before the Russian snatched the final three games from 4-5 to clinch her victory in 78 minutes.
Kontaveit reached her second final of the season and improved to 16-9 on the season with a 6-3, 6-7(0), 6-2 victory over No.7-seeded Lesia Tsurenko. The 21-year-old World No.49 played the Biel final in April, but has still yet to win a WTA title.
She made her Top 50 debut this week at No.49 in the world.