By Chris Oddo | Saturday April 29, 2017
Elina Svitolina reached her third final of 2017 without too much resistance on Saturday. The top-seeded Ukrainian No.1 powered past Jana Cepelova, 6-2, 6-3, to set a final with No.6-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium, who powered past Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-1, 6-1.
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Svitolina improved to 25-5 on the season and she will bid to become the first player to earn three WTA titles this season when she meets Mertens for the first time on Sunday.
After dropping the middle set of her first round match to Viktoria Kamenskaya, Svitolina has reeled off seven straight sets.
Mertens trounced Begu in 67 minutes, 6-1, 6-1, and broke serve five times on seven opportunities. The Belgian is now 2-0 against Begu this season—she also defeated her in three sets at Fed Cup.
Mertens, who won the Hobart title in January, improved to 12-4 on the season and 2-0 lifetime in tour-level semis.