Babos, Kozlova in Taiwan Open final

TAIPEI: Fourth seed Timea Babos from Hungary reached the Taiwan Open final after defeating China’s Wang Yafan in straight sets on Saturday.

Babos, who won her first doubles Grand Slam title last week at the Australian Open with French partner Kristina Mladenovic, beat Wang 6-3, 6-4. The 24-year-old Hungarian, 45th in the world rankings and the lone seed among the semifinalists, will face Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova in the final on Sunday.

Winning the final would gave Babos her third WTA singles title. The two last played each other in the Qatar Total Open in 2015, when Kozlova triumphed over Babos 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-final.

It will be the first WTA final for Kozlova, ranked 85th in the world, after she beat former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki of Germany 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinal on Saturday. Former world no. 12 Lisicki was coming back from a knee surgery that had delayed the start to her season.