French Open champion will face her doubles partner Julia Goerges in Sunday's final; Belinda Bencic defeats Angelique Kerber to reach Mallorca Oen final
Saturday 22 June 2019 21:16, UK
Ashleigh Barty moved to the brink of becoming world No 1 after reaching the final of the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham.
The French Open champion defeated world No 51 Barbora Strycova 6-4 6-4 in the semi-finals and will overtake Naomi Osaka at the top of the WTA rankings if she wins the title on Sunday.
Barty is yet to lose a set this week at the grass-court tournament and saved all five of the break points she faced against her Czech opponent.
"I felt I had really good rhythm on my serve today," said Barty. "It was important for me today to try and almost make it a boring match and make it a little bit kind of serve and first shot and dominate on my part."
The Australian will face eighth-seed Julia Goerges - her doubles partner - in the final after the German defeated Croatia's Petra Martic 6-4 6-3.
Goerges took advantage of her only break opportunity of the first set against Martic, who beat 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals, before breaking the world No 25 three times in the second set.
World No 19 Goerges, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year, defeated Barty when the pair met in the last-16 in Birmingham last year.
"I have to prepare and do the best that I can tomorrow and try and play a good tennis match," Barty added. "If I win, it's a bonus. There are all things that come with it, but those things are not what I'm worried about."
Elsewhere, Belinda Bencic defeated defending Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber to reach the Mallorca Open final.
The Swiss third seed fired 40 winners and came back from a set down against the former world No 1 to reach her second tour-level final of the year with a 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 win.
Bencic, who won in Dubai earlier this season, will now face Sofia Kenin after the American reached her third WTA final of the year by defeating second-seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-4 4-6 6-2 at the Mallorca Open.
The 20-year-old hit 23 winners and broke the Latvian, who had reached every final since the tournament's inception in 2016, four times to reach her first grass-court final.
