Lausanne [Switzerland], July 30 : Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto worked extremely hard to get into her second final of 2023, surviving Hungary's Anna Bondar 6-7(3), 7-6(6), 7-5 in the clay-court Ladies Open Lausanne semifinals.
After three hours and 34 minutes of play, which included waiting out three consecutive rain delays, the World No. 42 and top-ranked Italian, Cocciaretto, saved a match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak to win.
"It was maybe the craziest match of my life, for the rain, for the match point, for everything. I came here without expectations, just to play matches, and I am in the final. So I will play another match and I am grateful for that," WTA quoted Cocciaretto as saying after her win.
Cocciaretto's opponent in Sunday's championship match will be former Lausanne finalist Clara Burel. World No.84 Burel overcame Frenchwoman Diane Parry 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 in a late-night semifinal clash.
In a matchup between two young French players who were rated No. 1 in the world on the junior tour, Burel, 22, defeated Parry, 20, in 2 hours and 28 minutes. At Hologic WTA Tour-level, Burel presently has a 2-0 advantage over Parry.
At this same competition two years prior, Burel advanced to her first WTA singles final of her career and lost to Tamara Zidansek. Burel has not advanced to a tour-level semifinal since that breakthrough, but this week she has once again shown winning form in Lausanne.
In the final minutes of the second set on Saturday, Burel produced some outstanding net-rushing putaways to tie the match at one set apiece. In the third set, Parry reduced a 5-1 deficit to 5-3 before Burel broke serve to seal the victory.
In their sole prior meeting, which took place on clay at WTA 125 Makarska last season, Cocciaretto prevailed against Burel 6-2, 6-4.
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