Kontaveit keeps WTA Finals dream alive with win in Cluj-Napoca

Anett Kontaveit is the player deciding who will play at the WTA Finals with either Jabeur or her to get that honour.

The Estonian player needs to win the Transylvania Open in order to make the cut and today her campaign started with a solid win over Krunic. Kontaveit has been one of the best performing player on the WTA tour in the past month and her triumph in Moscow last week proved in what good form she currently is. Her opponent Krunic put up a good fight today but it was the Estonian who proved better 6-3 7-5.

The start of the match signaled that Kontaveit would not be messing around as she quickly took an early break point after Krunic missed some pretty easy shorts. The Serbian loves to attack but oftentimes she tends to overhit the ball and that was the case here. Kontaveit on the other hand posses very clean groundstrokes that do a lot of damage on quicker courts.

That early lead was enough for Kontaveit to win the first set with 6-3 as she did not really push herself too much especially after playing all week long in Moscow last week. The 2nd set featured a much bigger stand from Krunic did not play much better but even a slight uptick in her level proved troublesome for Kontaveit. The Estonian had a 4-2 lead before the Serbian pulled it back, even taking a 5-4 lead.

Eventually, it was Kontaveit who once again found a breakthrough late to win the set with 7-5 and keep her WTA Finals dream alive. The most important part for Kontaveit was spending only 72 minutes on the court which will help her recover for the next round.