Kanepi eases past Saville and into Citi Open final

Kaia Kanepi, the No 6 seed, defeated Australian Daria Saville 6-3, 6-1 to reach the final of the Citi Open on Saturday afternoon.

Kanepi dominated all aspects of the match. She faced only one break point, and even though she lost that break it hardly mattered because the Estonian earned five breaks of Saville’s serve. The match required only one hour and 13 minutes to be completed.

Kanepi, ranked No 37, will battle either Chinese lucky loser Xiyu Wang or Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova for the title on Sunday.

Kanepi : “My Best match”

“I think I played my best match today,” Kanepi said. “Everything was very smooth for me. I think I hit a lot of lines (smiling). It’s tough to do it every day, so I think today was a good day for me.”

The 37-year-old Estonian previously beat Belgian Greet Minnen (6-3, 6-3), China’s Lin Zhu (4-6, 6-4, 6-4), and Russian Anna Kalinskaya (6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3) to reach the semis. It was still a productive week for Saville, who knocked off Swedish qualifier Mirjam Bjorklund (3-6, 7-5, 7-6(4)), Jessica Pegula of the USA (7-5, 6-4), and Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino (6-1, 7-5).