Cali Open: Begu breezes past Smith to move into final

Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, the second seed, won against Australian qualifier Tina Nadine Smith 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the final of the Cali Open on Friday evening.

Begu, ranked No 102, will play the winner of the match between Hungarian Panna Udvardy and Slovak Veronika Erjavec next.

Earlier in the tournament, the 34-year-old Romanian defeated Peruvian wildcard Lucciana Perez Alarcon (6-1, 6-2), Colombian Emiliana Arango (6-2, 6-2) and No 8 seed Anca Todoni (7-6 (6), 6-4).

Smith, ranked No 322, beat Spaniard Aliona Bolsova (6-3, 6-3), American Robin Montgomery, the No 3 seed (6-3, 6-3) and Spaniard Leyre Romero Gormaz (6-2, 6-3) in the previous rounds.