FILE PHOTO: Tennis – WTA Premier 5 – Qatar Open – Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, Doha, Qatar – February 14, 2019 Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova in action during her Quarter Final match against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari
(Reuters) – Swiss qualifier Jil Teichmann and Czech wildcard Karolina Muchova both reached their first WTA final at the Prague Open on Friday.
Teichmann’s breakthrough week on the Tour continued as she stunned world number 39 Barbora Strycova 6-3 6-0 in their semi-final.
The 21-year-old fired 22 winners in the contest, doubling Strycova’s tally of 11, and finished with just 14 unforced errors to seal the victory in just over an hour.
World number 146 Teichmann will face home favorite Muchova, who eased past American Bernarda Pera 6-2 7-5 in the other semi-final.
Making just her seventh WTA main draw appearance, Muchova was clinical in the opening set, executing four spectacular dropshot winners.
Pera fought back with ferocious groundstrokes to take a 2-0 lead in the second set but Muchova’s touch from the baseline proved decisive as she came back to draw level at 3-3.
Serving to stay in the match at 5-6, Pera failed to claim a single point as Muchova sealed a place in Saturday’s final.
Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis