The Czech Barbora Krejcíková won her ticket to the final of the WTA 250 tournament in Birmingham, beating the Chinese Zhu Lin (6-3, 6-2) on Saturday. Krejcíková, 12th in the world, will meet Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (17th) or Russian Anastasia Potapova (21st) on Sunday, opposed in the second semi-final scheduled for Saturday afternoon. The Czech, winner of Roland-Garros in 2021, will try to add a seventh title to her record, a second this season after her coronation in Dubai.
In the semi-finals against Zhu, Krejcíková always raced in the lead and was never bothered by her opponent, 39th in the WTA rankings. She quickly took the serve from the Chinese in the first set which she pocketed in 48 minutes of play. After a medical break to allow Zhu to have his right shoulder manipulated, she started the second set with a double break to lead 4-0, then 5-1. The Czech scored her second match point with a winning forehand that allowed her to play her first final on grass, eight days before the start of Wimbledon where her best result is an 8th final, in 2021.