Mirra Andreeva, Avanesyan to play for first title in Iasi

A first-time title winner on the Hologic WTA Tour will be guaranteed on Friday in Iasi, as Mirra Andreeva and Elina Avanesyan will play for the inaugural WTA 250 title at the UniCredit Iasi Open.

Iasi: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Both players were forced to work hard on Thursday, though in different ways, to reach their first career tour-level singles final. After her quarterfinal match against Jaqueline Cristian was rained out on Wednesday, fifth seed Avanesyan first defeated the home favorite 7-5, 6-4 in the morning before returning to oust France's Chloe Paquet in the semifinals 6-2, 6-3. 

Top-seeded Andreeva, meanwhile, played just one match -- but her 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) win against Serb Olga Danilovic lasted a dramatic 2 hours and 38 minutes. Not only did the 17-year-old win from a set down for the fifth time this year, but she also rallied from 5-2 behind in the final set -- and saved two match points serving in the eighth game. 

"Honestly, I imagined that I already lost the match, so I just changed my mindset and just go for it, no matter what," Andreeva said afterwards. "I tried to keep playing my aggressive game, but the most important [thing] was finding the balance between rushing and waiting for the mistakes. I managed to find the balance today in this match.

"It was an amazing battle. She's an amazing player, very talented. It was very hard to play against her, and I'm very happy with my win today."

Both players broke serve six times in the match, but Andreeva was more efficient on her opportunities. She went 6-for-8 on her chances, while Danilovic went 6-for-17 -- with the Serb's aggressive game racking up for than 50 unforced errors in the match.

"It's always hard and tricky to play against a lefty. She has amazing hands ... she strikes the ball very hard," Andreeva added. "I especially struggled on my serve today a little bit, but it's because her returns were amazing, 15 centimeters each return before the baseline. That was really tough to manage ... but in the end, it turned around."

Andreeva is now 1-1 in her career in tour-level semifinals, with her first coming at Roland Garros this year (where she upset Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka along the way). She is 1-0 against Avanesyan, the World No.76, both on clay and this year. Andreeva was a 7-5, 6-4 winner against her in Rouen prior to Roland Garros.

"[Reaching my first final] feels great: another milestone reached for me this year," Andreeva said. "I'm trying not to think about it. It's already been a positive week for me, but of course I want to go for more this week."