World number 4 Jessica Pegula beat Yanina Wickmayer 6-3 6-4 to reach her fourth final of the season at the Hana Bank Open Korea Open in Seoul.
Pegula is aiming to clinch her third title of the season following her triumphs in Montreal and Tokyo.
Pegula earned a late break in the ninth game and served out the first set with a hold of 30 to win the first set 6-4.
Pegula went up a set and a double break to take a 4-1 lead. Wickmayer pulled one of the breaks back from 40-15 down and held serve to close the gap to 3-4. Pegula held serve in the eighth game to open up a 5-3 lead before breaking serve for the fourth time to seal the win.
“Being half-Korean and being able to be in the final here is something I can always say. Hopefully I can win but nonetheless it’s an honour, so I am really happy”, said Pegula.
The US player set up agaisnt world number 128 Yuan Yue, who came back from one set down to beat Emina Bektas 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-2.
Yuan went up a 4-1 lead with a break in the second game. Bektas broke back in the ninth game and held serve to draw level to 5-5. Both players traded mini-breaks at the start of the tie-break. Bektas won five games from 2-5 down to clinch the tie-break 7-5. Yuan earned a break in the ninth game to win the second set 6-4 forcing the match to the decider. The Chinese broke twice in the third and fifth games to clinch the third set 6-2. Yuan has become the first Chinese player to reach the final in Seoul.
