No.30 seed Anhelina Kalinina reached the first WTA 1000 final of her career with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 win Friday against Veronika Kudermetova at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. 

Ukraine's Kalinina needed 2 hours and 51 minutes to edge ahead 2-1 in her head-to-head with Kudermetova and collect her second Top 20 victory in a row. In the previous round, Kalinina won this season's longest match over No.12 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Kalinina is now a win away from the first Hologic WTA Tour title of her career. She will meet a Top 20 player for the third consecutive match when she faces reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in Saturday’s final. 

Read more: Rybakina defeats Ostapenko to advance to Rome final

Kalinina leads her head-to-head with Rybakina 1-0, having beaten Rybakina on the green clay of Charleston last year.

Words from the winner: "I win [the first set] 7-5, then I lost a little bit maybe concentration," Kalinina said after Friday's victory. "Also too much nerves because I was serving for the match. This is my first [WTA 1000] semifinal. I was trying to little bit turn off the emotions, but it's very tough when you're playing such tough matches. 

"Third set, I think I was much better mentally. I was staying stronger, more focused. I'm really happy and proud of myself how I handled it after the second set."

Video: Kalinina dedicates her win to Ukraine

Fast facts: Kalinina was playing only the second Hologic WTA Tour semifinal of her career, but she is now 2-0 in that round, as she reaches her second career singles final. Her previous final came at WTA 250 Budapest in 2021, where she lost to Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 6-0.

After this career-best performance at a WTA 1000 event, the World No.47 Kalinina is projected to make her Top 25 debut in Monday’s new singles rankings. She could also potentially make her Top 20 debut if she wins Saturday's final.

Since the WTA 1000 tier started in 2009, Kalinina is the second player from Ukraine to make a WTA 1000 final, along with two-time Rome champion Elina Svitolina.

Match moments: Kalinina erased the first eight break points she faced on her way to a 5-3 lead in the first set. Kalinina did not serve out the set at 5-4, but a pair of powerful backhands gave her another break for 6-5. Serving for the set again, Kalinina forced a long return on her third set point to take the 66-minute opener.

In the second set, Kalinina again led 5-3, where she served for the match. But Kudermetova amped up the aggression and began to draw more errors, and the No.11 seed reeled off 16 points in a row -- two love holds and two breaks at love -- to squeak out the second set and tie up the match.

However, the pendulum swung back in Kalinina’s favor in the final set, where she gritted out rallies and fired sterling returns to build a 4-0 lead. In the third set, Kalinina won 91 percent of her first-serve points and never faced a break point as she eased into her first final in nearly three years.