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03/29/2024 07:43:30 am

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Kia Korea Open: Varvara Lepchenko Defeats Cristina McHale to Advance to Finals

Varvara Lepchenko defeated fellow American Cristina McHale to advance to the finals of the Kia Korea Open in Seoul

(Photo : blacklabeltennis.com)

After upsetting defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals Varvara Lepchenko went onto defeat fellow American Cristina McHale to advance to the finals of the Kia Korea Open in Seoul on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Lepchenko came back from one set down to force a tie-break in the third set and came out on top 3-6 6-1 7(7)-6(5).

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Lepchenko's major achievement in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the recent U.S. Open where she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams in the third round.

Lepchenko will face second seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the finals.

Pliskova, 22, had a hard time with Russian wild card entry Maria Kirilenko in the quarters as she was faced with elimination after losing the first set and forced a tie-break in the second.

But the Czech stood her ground and came out on top in the deciding set 4-6, 7(7)-6(5) 6-3.

Kirilenko, 27, had a superb tournament, defeating third seed Klara Koukalova in the second round and ousting Kaia Kanepi in the quarters.

The World No. 32 ranked Pliskova has not won any WTA events this year and hopes to end that slump Sunday.

Kirilenko also had a doubles quarterfinals matchup Saturday along with Yanina Wickmayer but it seems that fatigue got the best of the Russian as they retired the match to Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena and Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.

The Spanish-Romanian tandem will meet Mona Barthel and Mandy Minella in the finals that ousted a tough challenge from the Chinese Taipei team in the other semis matchup.

Chin-Wei Chan and Chieh-Yu Hsu got off to an early lead as they broke Barthel and Minella once to take over the first set but the Germany-Luxembourg duo broke back to win the second set.

It was a race to 10 points in the deciding set with Barthel and Minella leading the way to victory 4-6 6-4 10-6.

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