Tomljanovic reaches first final in five years in Birmingham

Ajla Tomljanovic advanced to her first Hologic WTA Tour singles final in five years in Birmingham on Saturday with a 7-6(5), 6-4 Rothesay Classic semi-final win over the No. 7 Anastasia Potapova.

Former no. The world No. 32, currently ranked 190, is the third-lowest ranked grass-court finalist on the Hologic WTA Tour in the open era. In an interesting parallel, two of them were in Birmingham. American Melanie Oudin, a 2009 US Open semi-finalist, was ranked 208th when she won the Birmingham title in 2012.

Two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist Tomljanovic has been runner-up on four previous occasions and last reached a tour-level final in the winter of 2019 on the hard courts of Hua Hin, Thailand. After missing much of the 2023 season due to knee surgery and another operation to remove a uterine fibroid earlier this year, the 31-year-old is bidding for her first title in the 180th draw WTA main, which places her third on the list of active players with the most tournament appearances who have never won a title.

Tomlajnovic will face Yulia Putintseva in Sunday’s unseeded all-around final, while the Kazakh beat Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-2, 6-2 in Saturday’s first semi-final. Although Putintseva holds two career singles titles, this week marks the first time she has reached a final on grass.

Tomljanovic had previously come from a set down to defeat China’s Lin Zhu and the No. 6 Leylah Fernandez in her previous two matches. But against Potapova, she led for almost the entire 1 hour and 30 minutes. The only time he didn’t was in a three-game swing in the first set after failing to convert a set point in the ninth game. Potapova won three straight games to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead — and later, in the tiebreak, four straight points from 5-1 down to level at 5-5.

“I just tried to keep a cool head. I felt like I was a little too interested in the beginning and I felt like I was losing a lot of energy just taking every point into account,” Tomljanovic said afterward. “I tried to let go of whatever happened and focus on what I can control.

“I definitely didn’t expect to play a final here. I really take it one match at a time, as cliche as it is. Whenever I’ve done well, I’ve never looked back and I don’t plan to. do it now, I’ll do my best to prepare, give it my all tomorrow, and when it’s over, I’ll reflect on the week.”

Putintseva has won four of her previous five matches against the pair, but has never played on grass.