Australian teen star Destanee Aiava has overcome Japanese second seed Miyu Kato in straight sets to cement her place in the final of the ACT Claycourt International #1 on Sunday.
The unseeded 17-year-old was far too powerful for Kato, prevailing 6-3 6-3 in just over an hour.
Aiava is pushing for her first singles title in Canberra, having made two previous finals in the nation’s capital, including her first Pro Tour final in 2015.
“It was a goal of mine trying to get my first $60K title, especially playing on my favourite surface so I’m feeling quite comfortable playing this week so hopefully I can do well tomorrow”
Just last month, Aiava was part of the Australian Fed cup team who defeated Ukraine, something which she really enjoyed.
“That was a good experience watching Ash [Barty] and Dasha [Gavrilova] play, it was really good supporting the team and to just experience the whole vibe with the team. We all support each other a lot, even when they’re on tour we keep up to date so it’s been really good.”
Aiava will face fifth seed Dalila Jakupovic in the final, after the Slovenian convincingly beat Brit Gabriella Taylor 6-2 6-2.
The 26-year-old Slovenian has been in great form this tournament, having won the doubles final on Friday with her Australian partner Priscilla Hon 6-4 4-6 10-7 against Miyu Kato and Makoto Ninomiya from Japan.
The current World No. 171 is also yet to drop a set in the singles tournament and puts her form down to the playing surface.
“In Europe, the whole summer we have clay tournaments so I think it’s a little bit of advantage for us, for European players than for Australians because it is mostly hard court tournaments here.”
“I like clay so I was really happy to be back on the clay so I think this is one of the reasons also.”
The two finalists previously met in France last year, with Aiava coming out on top after a tough three set match.
Aiava expects an equally hard match on Sunday.
“It will be a tough one, I played her last year, I actually forgot how that match went but obviously she’s been having a great week as well so it will be a tough one tomorrow so there’s only one winner and I’m looking forward to it.”
The final will take place at 11.00am with entry with gold coin donation.
Draws and order of play available here
Live scoring for is available here
Live streaming is available here
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