By Erik Gudris | Saturday, July 19, 2014
Top seeds Caroline Wozniacki and Roberta Vinci face off in the Istanbul Cup final on Sunday.
Photo Credit: AP
For both Caroline Wozniacki and Roberta Vinci, Sunday will bring a first WTA title this season to just one of them.
WTA: Barthel and Scheepers Meet in Bastad Final
The top two seeds at this week's TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup in Istanbul, Turkey both enjoyed straightforward semifinal wins on Saturday.
Top seed Wozniacki met France's Kristina Mladenovic in their semifinal. The pair met earlier this season in Monterrey and that match was a close two set win for the former No. 1.
Wozniacki jumped out to a 6-2, 4-1 lead before Mladenovic made a brief run midway through the second set. Yet, Wozniacki withstood the Frenchwoman's charge and soon pulled out the the 6-2, 6-3 win.
"The conditions were difficult out there today with the wind, so it made everything a little harder," Wozniacki said. "I just tried to stay focused and play my best tennis and I'm glad it worked out."
Istanbul is now the 35th WTA final of Wozniacki's career. She picked up her last title in Luxembourg near the end of 2013.
Vinci Gets Revenge on Konjuh in Semifinals
No. 2 seed Roberta Vinci is enjoying a surge of winning results after a tough start to the season. Vinci is now 7-1 post-Wimbledon. But, her very first loss of the season came at the hands of 16-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia back in Auckland.
Konjuh, who became the youngest WTA player to reach a semifinal in two years, faced off against Vinci on Saturday. This time, it was Vinci who proved the superior player.
Looking more comfortable in the windy conditions, Vinci would close out a 6-4, 6-2 win.
"I am very pleased with my win today," Vinci said. "For sure experience helped, but I played smart and adapted to the conditions really well, because it was really windy out there.
Vinci is now into her second straight final having reached the same stage at Bucharest last week. The Italian also leads the head-to-head versus Wozniacki at 2-1. That includes Vinci winning their last meeting in Madrid this year.