| 8d
Heather Watson reached her first WTA Tour final for more than three-and-a-half years at the Tianjin Open.
It has been a remarkable week for the 27-year-old, whose only tour-level win in 2019 prior to this week came in the first round of Wimbledon.
Here, Watson has won four matches in succession, the latest a comfortable 6-1 6-4 victory over Veronika Kudermetova.
.@HeatherWatson92 books her place in the @TianjinOpen final! Defeats Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-4! pic.twitter.com/w81NMopAma
— WTA (@WTA) October 12, 2019
Watson had spent more than three hours on court and saved four match points in her quarter-final victory over Magda Linette on Friday but had no trouble recovering.
"Yesterday was a really tough match and I think all those hours on court helped me play well today, so maybe it was a good thing," she said on wtatennis.com.
"It's my first time here in Tianjin, so it's a great first experience for me. I'm looking forward to playing the final and hopefully I can play as well as I managed today."
Watson will take on Rebecca Peterson in the final after the Swede beat Ons Jabeur.
And the British number two will be looking to maintain a proud record, having won all three of her previous WTA Tour finals.
Those came in Osaka in 2012, Hobart in 2015 and, most recently, in Monterrey in 2016.
Watson had already guaranteed she would return to the top 100 on Monday – a timely boost with the cut-off for Australian Open qualifying coming up. Victory on Sunday would see Watson climb to around 75th in the world.
