Baku, Azerbaijan (Sports Network) - Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia and American
Julia Cohen won semifinal matches Friday and will meet for the title at the
Baku Cup tennis tournament.
The fifth-seeded Jovanovski rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over second-seeded
Russian Alexandra Panova, while Cohen rallied for a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 triumph over
Olga Puchkova of Russia.
Jovanovski was appearing in her second career WTA semifinal, previously losing
to Li Na in the Sydney semis in 2011. She had a marathon quarterfinal
Thursday, prevailing against fellow Serb Aleksandra Krunic in just over three
hours, but on Friday needed a mere 77 minutes to advance to her first WTA
final.
Cohen, ranked 134th and in only her third WTA main draw, will also play in a
final for the first time in her career. The 23-year-old Philadelphia native
has been playing professionally since 2003 and has won five times on the ITF
circuit. She is trying to join Serena Williams and Melanie Oudin as the only
Americans with WTA titles this year.
It's been a long road for Cohen, who fell in qualifying 34 times before making
her WTA main draw debut earlier this year in Bogota. After losing that first
match, she also reached the main draw at Palermo earlier this month and won a
match for the first time, beating Elena Dushevina in the first round before
losing to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
The winner of this WTA International event will claim a first prize of
$37,000.
The Sports Network