Ajla Tomljanovic’s brilliant comeback after a long spell of injury woe has hit a new peak as the Australian ace reached her first ever WTA grass-court final in the Birmingham Classic.
Tomljanovic’s 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 victory over Russian seventh seed Anastasia Potapova in the pre-Wimbledon tournament at Edgbaston on Saturday has also put her in line for the biggest triumph of her career at 31.
She’ll meet experienced Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in Sunday’s final, looking to lift the biggest title of her career after previously being beaten in four other WTA finals at this level.
Tomljanovic did win a WTA 125 event in Brazil at the end of last year, an event recognised by the women’s governing body as little more than a second-tier trophy, and victory at Edgbaston Priory would be considered a first proper WTA title for the former Australian No.1.
The moment was not lost on Tomljanovic either as she looked up to the Birmingham skies quite emotionally after what turned out to be a surprisingly bloodless victory over the world No.36 Potapova.
Tomljanovic had dominated early on, cashing in on a nervy start from the Russian who served up a series of double faults – she ended with seven in all – as she got broken in just the third game.
Tomljanovic was broken when serving for the set at 5-4 but held her nerve better in the subsequent tiebreak as the often unpredictable Potapova made two backhand errors to gift the stanza to the Australian.
After the match went with serve over the second set, the scoreboard pressure appeared to get to the Russian but Tomljanovic stayed calmer to break her to 15 and annex the victory in just over an hour and a half.
Earlier, world No.41 Putintseva had cashed in on an error-ridden display by Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto, winning 6-2 6-2 tin the opening semi-final.
Source Agencies
