Babos topples Safarova to reach Quebec final

MONTREAL: Third-seeded Hungarian Timea Babos edged top-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 on Saturday to reach the WTA Quebec City final, where she’ll take on Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck.

Babos reached her second WTA final of the year, having captured her hometown title in Budapest with a win over Safarova in the final.On Saturday, Babos, ranked 63rd in the world, leveled her head-to-head record against Safarova at two wins apiece, holding firm in the face of Safarova’s strong start and securing the match after an hour and 42 minutes.

Babos was under pressure early as Safarova didn’t drop a point in her first four service games.The Hungarian wasn’t as flawless, but never faced a break point herself and finally earned the first break chance of the match — a set-point at 6-5.

Safarova saved it and they went to the tiebreaker, in which Babos again mustered the first set-point chance.But Safarova battled back, and held a set-point herself before Babos closed it out on her sixth opportunity.

Babos gained the upper hand in the second set with a break for 4-3. Although she was unable to convert four match points on Safarova’s serve, she wrapped it up in the next game.Meanwhile, Van Uytvanck bagged a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Germany’s Tatjana Maria.

Van Uytvanck reached the first WTA final of her career with a dominant performance that included winning nine straight games bridging the first and second sets.The Belgian’s dominance pushed the frustrated Maria into an increasing stream of unforced errors, that only made things easier for her 23-year-old opponent.  —