Recharged Elina Svitolina reaches title match in France
FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 10, 2023 Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in action during her round of 128 match against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Elina Svitolina will be looking for her first title since returning from maternity leave after rallying for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over France's Clara Burel in Friday's semifinal at the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France.
Svitolina was trailing 4-1 in the second set before recovering to get back into the match and prevailing in two hours, 20 minutes. The Ukrainian saved 10 of 16 break points to set up Saturday's title match against Anna Blinkova of Russia.
Blinkova converted 5 of 6 break points and needed just 73 minutes to dispatch No. 7 seed Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-2 in the other semi. Blinkova will be looking for her second career victory.
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Italy's Lucia Bronzetti committed just eight unforced errors while rolling to a 6-1, 6-1 upset of second-seeded Sloane Stephens in the semifinals at Rabat, Morocco.
Bronzetti didn't face a single break point and took advantage of 22 unforced errors by Stephens while winning in 61 minutes. Bronzetti will face Julia Grabher in Saturday's final with both players looking for their first WTA titles.
Grabher outlasted Argentina's Julia Riera 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (6) in her semifinal match. The Austrian saved 6 of 10 break points.
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