#AjlaTomljanovic, who has been silently rising up the ranks ever since her return from a series of injuries, is back into her second #WTA final in five months as she defeated one of the most improved players on the tour, #TamaraZidansek, in the semifinals of the Toyota #ThailandOpen.
Firing six aces and blasting 18 winners in this 73-minute encounter, Tomljanovic put up a flawless display as she overcame a tight first set to claim this straight-sets victory. Zidansek was the aggressor on the court today, but despite hitting the same number of winners, her 21 unforced errors proved to be the bane of her game today, putting her run to a halt.
Having not lost her serve throughout the match, Tomljanovic saved the sole break point she had faced before breaking serve on four different occasions, limiting Zidansek to just six games in this relatively one-sided contest.
Tomljanovic dominated her first serves — winning 88 percent of points behind them but struggled on her second deliveries, which were prone to strong returns from her opponent. On the other hand, Zidansek won just 59 percent of her first serves and claimed just six points behind her vulnerable second serves.
Tomljanovic edges through the first set
It was a strong start from Tomljanovic as she made a quick breakthrough — breaking serve in the opening game as Zidansek sent a backhand narrowly long on break point. The series of errors kept coming from the Slovenian as the Croatian comfortably consolidated the break for an early 2-0 lead.
The slow start from Zidansek continued to bother her as she failed to find her groove, and was unable to find a proper shot in play. However, she finally found life in her game as she rattled off five consecutive points to get onto the scoreboard with some impressive play.
The series of service holds started to come from both players, as they found the rhythm and seemed unstoppable. For the first time in the match, Zidansek earned a look at a possible break but a momentary loss of focus saw Tomljanovic surviving the tricky 15-30 deficit and holding for a 4-2 lead.
Serving for the set at 5-4 up, Tomljanovic escaped from yet another dangerous situation, although she managed to regroup and take the opening frame 6-4 as Zidansek was unable to convert her 0-30 lead and misfiring at the crucial moments.
Tomljanovic strolls to the win
Tomljanovic rode on her momentum and steered to grab the first break in the opening game of the second set, asserting her authority across the court with some solid baseline play which her opponent struggled to handle. Brought to deuce for the first time in the evening, Tomljanovic nonetheless consolidated the break and edged herself closer to the win.
Zidansek, who had to survive a couple of marathon matches during the week, saved two match points against Jennifer Brady in the second round after almost losing a commanding 5-0 lead in the deciding set. The fatigue finally kicked in as Tomljanovic surged towards a double-break advantage, opening up a four-game lead eventually.
Although Zidansek was able to earn her first break point opportunity, she was wasteful on her chances as Tomljanovic battled back to place herself just one game away from the terrific win. Serving to stay in the match, the Slovenian completely lost the plot and the Croatian fired a perfect return winner to seal the impressive victory after just an hour and 13-minutes of action.
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