Barty and Konta: Nottingham finalists

Semi final day on the grass courts of Europe as we continue to count down the days to Wimbledon.

s-Hertogenbosch:

Women’s

Aleksandra Krunic (7) defeated CoCo Vandeweghe (1)

CoCo started as expected, serving seven aces in the opening set and never facing a break point with 74% of points won on first serve.

Krunic was punished on her initial delivery, capturing only 41% of points.

Converting two of her seven break opportunities, it was a standard set won by the American 6-2. 13 unforced errors did little to help the Serbian player.

Thereafter things became far different - it was a tennis match decided with two tie breaks.

How Krunic turned around her fortunes was amazing, considering Vandeweghe led with a break 4-2 in the second set.  The top seed dropped just two points in her first three service games and appeared certain to progress to another final here and battle for a third Libema Open trophy.

However Aleksandra created a break back point with a lob winner which is particularly good considering the height of Vandeweghe.  The break came, but two more break points needed to be saved by Krunic at 4-4 before the subsequent tie break.

Three thrilling backhand winners sealed the tie break 7-6(4) for Krunic, sending the match into a deciding third set, and obviously annoying Vandeweghe who had wasted her chances.

The pair exchanged breaks of serve for 3-3, but another chance evaded Vandeweghe in the tenth game as she held match point for the second time.  Krunic saved it and the tie break eventuated once more.

Vandeweghe was all over the place and Krunic won the breaker easily, suffering the loss of a mere point.

The upset win 2-6 7-6(4) 7-6(1) for Aleksandra Krunic sees her in the second final of her WTA career, the first being the Guangzhou Open last year, where she lost to Shuai Zhang.

She will this time play Kirsten Flipkens in the final

Kirsten Flipkens defeated Viktoria Kuzmova 7-5 6-7(7) 6-4

Flipkens had four match points in set two, but all were saved.

Kuzmova then broke Flipkens in the decider and served three love games in succession to lead 4-2.

However her run stopped then and the Belgian won the rest to reach her first final since 2016, where she defeated Johanna Larsson in the Korean Open.

Flipkens and Krunic have played each other once before, in a Fed Cup match in 2016, where Crunic prevailed.

Men’s

Richard Gasquet (2) defeated qualifier Bernard Tomic 6-4 6-7(6) 6-2

He will play Jeremy Chardy in the final

Jeremy Chardy defeated another Aussie Matthew Ebden 6-4 7-5

The all French final has Richard Gasquet leading 4-1 in the head to head battle, the pair having already met twice in 2018.

Chardy had his first win over Gasquet in the Miami Masters 1000 on a hard court, and Gasquet won in the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 on a clay court.  This is the first time they have played an ATP match on grass, and the first final against each other.

Stuttgart:

Milos Raonic (7) defeated Lucas Pouille (2) 6-4 7-6(3)

He will play Roger Federer in the final

Roger Federer (1) defeated Nick Kyrgios (4) 6-7(2) 6-2 7-6(5), the third Aussie to lose in Europe today.

Federer leads Raonic 10-3 in head to head meetings and the last two have been at Wimbledon - Raonic winning in the 2016 semis and Federer returning the favour last year in the quarters 

Nottingham:

Ash Barty (1) defeated Naomi Osaka (3) 6-3 6-4 to reach her second final this year, the other being her loss to Angie Kerber in January in the Sydney International, at last flying the Aussie flag in victory today.

She will play Johanna Konta in the final 

Johanna Konta (4) defeated Donna Vekic (6) 6-2 6-3, revenge for the loss inflicted by Vekic in last years Nottingham final.

Barty and Konta have met twice before, once here last year when Konta won in the quarters, and later in 2017 where Barty prevailed in the Wuhan Open second round.