It will be Jasmine Paolini versus Anna Blinkova in the final of the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca. On Saturday, Paolini and Blinkova – the two unseeded players – posted upsets in their respective semi-finals to make it to the last round.
Paolini defeated seventh seed Xiyu Wang 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 31 minutes in their semi-final. Paolini won 57% of her first-serve points to Wang’s 58% and 62% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 50%. Paolini dropped her serve four times across but also broke Wang’s serve five times for the match. The world no. 78 had 36 winners for the match while Wang finished with 31.
After the win, Paolini said, “I did a very solid performance. (Wang is) an amazing player, she can hit huge winners and big serves, lefty, so it’s never easy to play with her.”
Transylvania Open: Anna Blinkova’s unstoppable
Meanwhile, in the other semi-final, Blinkova got past fourth seed Anastasia Potapova. Blinkova, who qualified for the main draw, came from a set down to win, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 25 minutes.
Post-match, Blinkova shared, “The match was very tough, and (Potapova is) a great player, and it was a very mental victory. I cannot even describe how I’m feeling. But I’m so happy to be here in Cluj until the end, I love it here so much, and I’m so happy to be in the final. I tried to stay mentally strong and as aggressive as I can as well, and I tried to be courageous, and it helped me to win.”
The Transylvania Open final’s the maiden WTA final of Anna Blinkova’s career. Her opponent, Jasmine Paolini, will be playing in a WTA final for the second time. Both players will be facing each other for the fifth time. While Blinkova won their first two encounters, in 2017 Manchester and the 2020 Australian Open, Paolini won their most recent matches – at the WTA 125k level – in Bol in 2021, and in Contrexeville, in 2022.
Photo Credit: Transylvania Open Twitter