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Noskova ends Eala's Berlin run to tee up Pegula showdown

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Clock Icon5 HoursTennis

Linda Noskova will face Jessica Pegula in the Berlin Open final after halting Alexandra Eala's outstanding run with a 6-2 6-4 victory in Saturday's last-four clash.

After Pegula earned a stunning 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-0 success over world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the first semi-final, Noskova eased past Eala in just 70 minutes.

Eala, who had beaten Elena Rybakina and Elina Svitolina in the German capital, was broken in her very first service game, though a chaotic start saw her hit right back at the first attempt.

However, Noskova re-established her lead in game three and made it a two-break advantage in game five, with the Czech overpowering her opponent throughout the opening set.

Eala upped her level in the second set, which was on serve at 4-4 after the players exchanged another pair of breaks. 

However, an error-strewn game saw her broken to love, and that gave Noskova the opening she needed to serve out the contest and reach her seventh WTA Tour final.

Elsewhere, the Nottingham Open final will see Emma Navarro face Marie Bouzkova after both players earned straight-sets victories in Saturday's semi-final matches.

Navarro defeated Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic, while Bouzkova was a convincing 6-4 6-1 victor against another Czech player, two-time grand slam champion Karolina Pliskova.

Noskova wins battle of breakout stars

Perhaps Eala's back-to-back victories over top-10 players took something out of her, as she fell short of reaching her second WTA final.

Noskova, who had never previously reached a Tour-level final on any surface other than a hard court, fired off nine aces to her opponent's two and won an impressive 83% of her first-serve points (29/35), compared to Eala's 52% (13/25).

Both players generated six break points each throughout the match, but Noskova was able to convert five, while Eala could only take one of her chances.

Noskova, who is only six months older than Eala, looks to be a real threat going into Wimbledon, where there have been two Czech women's singles champions in the last three years (Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024).