Ann Li advanced to her second WTA Tour final of the year, edging second-seeded Xinyu Wang 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Friday at Tennis in the Land in Cleveland.
In the other semifinal, Romania’s Sorana Cirstea defeated Russia’s Anastasia Zakharova 6-1, 7-5.
Li, a 25-year-old Pennsylvania native, was helped by 10 double faults from Wang, whose service problems led to her facing 16 break points. Li took advantage of six of those chances.
Li, who is heading to her fifth career final, lost in the title match at Singapore this year. Her lone title came in 2021 in Tenerife, Spain.
Cirstea will be competing in her seventh final. She has won two: at Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2008; and at Istanbul in 2021.
Abierto GNP Seguros
Third-seeded Diana Shnaider of Russia saved a set point in the second-set tiebreaker while topping the United States’ Alycia Parks 6-3, 7-6 (8) in the semifinals at Monterrey, Mexico.
She will oppose either second-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia or the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova in the title match. The second semifinal was suspended due to rain late Friday night with the score 2-2 in the first set.
Alexandrova and Bouzkova will complete their match on Saturday before the winner meets Shnaider in the final later the same day.
Parks led 6-5 in the match-ending tiebreaker before Shnaider rallied, eventually sealing the win on her third match point. A 13-1 advantage in aces wasn’t enough for Parks.
Shnaider is through to her first final of 2025 after going 4-0 in championship matches last year.
–Field Level Media
