No.12 Jelena Ostapenko will face No.15 Daria Kasatkina for the title on Saturday at the Adelaide International.

Kasatkina advanced to the final after No.2 seed Jessica Pegula withdrew ahead of their slated semifinal due to GI illness. It is the second consecutive walkover for Kasatkina, after Laura Siegemund withdrew ahead of their quarterfinal with a left leg injury. 

With wins over Sorana Cirstea, Caroline Garcia, Marta Kostyuk and Ekaterina Alexandrova, Ostapenko is into her first hard-court final since winning Seoul in 2022. On Friday, Ostapenko played confident, contained tennis to earn her third win in seven tour-level matches against Alexandrova, winning 6-2, 7-6(3).

"It was a really tough match," Ostapenko said on court. "I knew she's a great player and it's going to be tough. She can serve really big and she's hitting the ball great. I was trying to play my game, even if sometimes I could really find it, try to be consistent and when I had the chance to go for it."

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Match notes: Ostapenko needed just 36 minutes to take a one-set lead. Alexandrova, who ousted World No.3 Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-3 the night before, looked slow-footed and fatigued throughout the match. She managed to keep the match in balance in the second set, after building a 5-3 lead and serving to force a deciding set. 

Ostapenko responded with a perfect return game to break at love. In the tiebreak, Ostapenko raced away from 3-3 before sealing the win after Alexandrova hit a double fault on match point. 

"Sometimes when I had to play more aggressively, the last few seasons I was not doing this well," Ostapenko said. "Now I feel in deciding moments when I have to go for my shots and when I have to put pressure on the opponent, I'm doing it better than the last couple of seasons. I'm just feeling good and really excited to be in the finals."

Ostapenko finished the match hitting 36 winners to 22 unforced errors. Alexandrova hit 16 winners to 11 unforced errors.

Up next: Ostapenko has won five of her seven matches against Kasatkina. Their last meeting came in Rome last spring, where Ostapenko won 6-4, 4-6, 6-0. Both players are bidding to capture their seventh career singles title. 

Regardless of Saturday's result, Ostapenko is set to make her return to the Top 10 for the first time since 2018 on Monday. She began her season by making the Brisbane quarterfinals last week.