Germany’s Annika Beck toppled defending champion Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-2 2-6 6-4 on Saturday to reach her fourth career final at the Quebec City WTA tournament.
The 21-year-old Beck will face Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the 101st-ranked player in the world who qualified for her first WTA final with a 6-4 6-2 semi-final win over Britain’s Naomi Broady.
Beck, who crushed Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-0, 6-3 in the quarter-finals, held on in a seesawing third-set battle to down Lucic-Baroni, the 33-year-old second seed from Croatia who was favored to repeat as champion after top-seeded American Madison Keys pulled out of the event with a wrist injury.
Beck surged ahead in the deciding set, only to falter with the finish line in sight. Up 5-2, she was broken before serving out the match on her second opportunity with a love game.
In Ostapenko, Beck will be facing a bright young talent whose junior accomplishments included the Wimbledon junior title last year.
“It’s nice to play the final here and I’m happy,” the 18-year-old Latvian said after subduing the big-serving Broady.
“If I play my best tennis I can win. But you just have to play your best and not expect anything.”