Swiss left-hander Jil Teichmann goes after her third career WTA title when she faces American Jen Brady in Sunday’s final of the Top Seed Open after both won Saturday semi-finals.
Teichmann took a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over American Shelby Rogers, who eliminated ninth-ranked Serena Williams in the quarter-finals.
“For sure I’m going into the final confident,” Teichmann said.
Brady defeated US 16-year-old Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4 in the other semi at Lexington, Kentucky.
Teichmann hasn’t dropped a set all week at the no-fans-allowed event, created in the wake of Covid-19 rescheduling issues as the first WTA event in the United States since the season was halted.
“I don’t have an answer for why I haven’t lost any sets,” Teichmann said. “I just feel very good on court. I feel calm. I can see the ball. I guess that helps me a lot.”
Teichmann, ranked 63rd, won both prior WTA finals appearances, downing host-nation heroine Karolina Muchova at the 2019 Prague Open and Dutch star Kiki Bertens at the 2019 Palermo International.
“I have a good record in the finals,” Teichmann said. “But that doesn’t mean anything.”
It will be Teichmann’s first WTA hardcourt final and the first WTA final of any kind for 49th-ranked Brady, who had lost three prior semi-finals.
Brady, set to reach a career-high 43rd in Monday’s new rankings, was denied on her first match point by a Gauff forehand volley in the ninth game before holding serve in the 10th at love to advance.