Unseeded Xiyu Wang of China will have home-country advantage when she faces top seed Magda Linette of Poland on Saturday for the Guangzhou Open title.
Wang won her semifinal match against seventh seed Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes on Friday. Linette cruised past unseeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-3 in 76 minutes in the other semifinal.
Wang and Minnen had not played each other on the tour. Wang converted four of seven break-point opportunities, while Minnen managed only 2 of 10. Wang compensated for five double faults with three aces. Minnen had just one of each.
Linette won 75.9 percent of her first-serve points (22 of 29), to 62.2 percent (23 of 37) for Putintseva. Linette was good, too, on second-serve points at 72.7 percent (16 of 22) to 30 percent (3 of 10) for her opponent.
Linette converted three of six break points, to none in three opportunities for Putintseva.
–Field Level Media