Clinical Yastremska breezes past Tauson to reach Linz Open final

Dayana Yastremska, the No 5 seed, moved into the final of the Upper Austria Ladies by sweeping aside the challenge of promising young Dane Clara Tauson, coming through 6-1, 6-4 at the TipsArena in Linz.

It will be the Ukrainian’s sixth WTA Tour final, having won three titles thus far in her promising young career.

In a battle of two bright talents, Tauson was left to rue nine break-point opportunities that she could not convert, as Yastremska’s serve remained intact throughout.

The Ukrainian broke in the second and sixth games en route to a dominant 6-1 opening-set win as Tauson struggled to deal with her opponent’s consistent power and depth.

The second stanza was much closer, however, epitomised by a mammoth eighth game which saw the Dane fail to convert several break-point opportunities to level the score having fallen a break behind earlier in the set.

Despite coming under further pressure on her service games, Yastremska remained impressively resolute to remain unbroken and serve out the match a few games later to move into her sixth WTA final.

Yastremska, ranked No 72, will play the winner of the match between top seed Karolina Muchova and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 4 seed, in the showpiece.

Earlier in the tournament, the Ukrainian beat Italian Lucia Bronzetti (7-6 (6), 7-5), Croat qualifier Antonia Ruzic (7-5, 6-1) and Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 3 seed (7-5, 6-0).

Tauson, ranked No 39, defeated Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (6-3, 6-3), Romanian Sorana Cirstea (6-2, 6-4) and Russian Anna Blinkova (6-4, 6-3) in the previous rounds of the Linz tournament.

Linz WTA 500, other semi-final result (TipsArena, hard, USD 1.064.510):

• Karolina Muchova vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova