Putintseva, Kalinina advance to Budapest final

Top seed Yulia Putintseva will attempt to claim the second WTA singles title of her career after ousting home hope Dalma Galfi, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, to reach the Hungarian Grand Prix final.

Putintseva of Kazakhstan needed nearly two-and-a-half hours to end the breakthrough run by former US Open junior champion Galfi, who, on home soil, earned the first three WTA main-draw victories of her career this week.

After splitting the first two sets, World No.42 Putintseva stormed ahead to 5-1 in the third set despite having to take a medical time-out for her left leg and wrist at 3-0.

22-year-old Galfi, ranked World No.176, clawed one break back at love to keep the match alive for one more game, but Putintseva struck back immediately to close out the clash.

In her first WTA singles semifinal since her title run in Nurnberg over two years ago, Putintseva converted six of her 11 break points to clinch victory.

Putintseva, a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, has now set up a chance to claim a companion for her 2019 Nurnberg singles champion trophy. Putintseva was the No.1 seed at that clay-court event, as she is again this week.

Putintseva will face first-time WTA singles finalist Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine in Sunday's championship match. Kalinina reached her maiden WTA final after advancing past No.2 seed Danielle Collins of the United States, 7-6(5), 4-1, ret.

Kalinina, who reached her first WTA quarterfinal and semifinal this week, is currently at a career-high ranking of World No.95. The 24-year-old made her Top 100 debut this Monday after winning ITF Challenger titles in Montpellier and Contrexeville, France, within the last month.

Kalinina nearly let a massive first-set advantage slip away against Collins. The Ukrainian led by 5-1 and had a set point at 5-4, but Collins stormed all the way back from those deficits to queue up a decisive first-set tiebreak.

A second set point at 6-4 in the breaker was squandered by Kalinina with a double fault, but on her third chance at 6-5, Kalinina came out on top in a rally after a netted forehand miscue by Collins.

A dropshot winner gave Kalinina a 3-1 lead in the second set, after which Collins received a medical time-out where her arm was treated. The American contested one more game before deeming herself unable to continue, moving Kalinina into her first WTA singles final.

Hungary did end up with a titlist this year, though, as home hope Fanny Stollar teamed with Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania to win Saturday's doubles final.

Buzarnescu and Stollar defeated Aliona Bolsova of Spain and Tamara Korpatsch of Germany, 6-4, 6-4, in a battle between unseeded tandems.

The victors won nearly 65 percent of points returning second serves, which led to them converting six of the eight break points they held during the affair.

It is the second WTA doubles title for Stollar, who also won her previous title in Budapest, alongside Georgina García Pérez in 2018. It is also Buzarnescu's second WTA doubles title, having triumphed at Strasbourg in 2018 with Raluca Olaru.