Vekic plays twice, beats sixth-seed Sakkari to reach German Open final

BERLIN : Croatia's Donna Vekic had to play twice on Saturday but did not drop a set as she cruised into the German Open final with a 6-4 7-6(8) victory over world number eight Maria Sakkari of Greece.

The 26-year-old had first beaten lucky loser Elina Avanesyan in straight sets in their quarter-final on Saturday morning after play was cancelled due to heavy rain on Friday.

Armed with her thundering forehand, the world number 23 bagged the first set courtesy of an early break and then reeled in the sixth seed after Sakkari took a quick 2-0 lead in the second to force a tiebreak.

Vekic made it two wins from her Saturday matches on her fourth match point with another forehand winner flying past her opponent, who also had to play twice in a day, having earlier beaten Marketa Vondrousova in her last-eight match.

Sakkari has now lost all five of her semi-finals this season.

Vekic will face either Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova or Czech Petra Kvitova in Sunday's final.