Yastremska makes first final since 2022; Alexandrova tops Muchova in Linz

No. 5 seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine moved into her first WTA singles final in nearly three years with a 6-1, 6-4 semifinal victory over No. 8 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz on Saturday.

Yastremska will face No. 4 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in Sunday's final at the WTA 500 indoor hard-court event. Alexandrova toppled No. 1 seed Karolina Muchova 6-0, 6-4 in just 1 hour and 13 minutes on Saturday, extending her dominant lead in their head-to-head to 4-1.

Linz: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Looking ahead to Sunday, Yastremska holds a narrow 3-2 head-to-head lead over Alexandrova. They have not squared off since 2022, where Alexandrova defeated Yastremska en route to the 's-Hertogenbosch title.

Dayana's day: In the semifinals, Yastremska needed 1 hour and 48 minutes to notch her second Top 50 win in a row, having already beaten Maria Sakkari in Friday's quarterfinals. Yastremska now holds a 2-0 record against Tauson.

"The process, and just trying to play ball by ball, that’s what brings me to the final," Yastremska said afterwards. "Just the fighting spirit and trying to play with fun, with good vibes and good emotions."

Yastremska will contest her first final since finishing runner-up to Zhang Shuai at another indoor hard-court event, Lyon, in March of 2022. Yastremska is aiming for her first title since triumphing on the clay of Strasbourg in 2019.

In the clash between three-time WTA titlists, Yastremska eased to the one-set lead by breaking Tauson twice in the opener. In the second set, a double fault by Tauson gave Yastremska the critical break for a 4-3 lead.

But the power-hitting clash was far from over as Yastremska had to get through one last test, firing pinpoint groundstrokes as she fended off five break points in a gritty hold for 5-3. 

Tauson saved one match point on her own serve, but Yastremska successfully closed out the win one game later, wrapping up the match a perfect 9-for-9 on break points saved. Yastremska slammed 39 winners to Tauson's 15 in the encounter.

Yastremska slid from No. 33 down to No. 72 in the PIF Rankings this week after losing many of her Australian Open semifinal points from last year, but the Ukrainian is potentially on the verge of bouncing right back up into the Top 50 after her big week in Linz.

Despite Saturday's result, Tauson is still having a strong season. The Dane is 10-2 on the year, having started 2025 by winning the Auckland title. Tauson is the only player to defeat Madison Keys so far this year, having ousted the newest Grand Slam champion during her Auckland run.

Another Alexandrova final: Alexandrova is into her second straight Linz final, and third overall. The former Top 15 player finished as Linz runner-up in 2018 (lost to Camila Giorgi) and last year (lost to Jelena Ostapenko).

By continuing her head-to-head mastery over 19th-ranked Muchova, Alexandrova has again put herself one win away from her first Linz title. It would be her first title overall since she won her second straight 's-Hertogenbosch title in the summer of 2023.

Alexandrova breezed through Saturday's first set, where she had eight winners to Muchova's two. The Czech Muchova made things much closer in the second set, but she was never able to break the Alexandrova serve despite garnering four break points.

In the second set, Alexandrova took charge for good by breaking for 4-3 with a forehand crosscourt winner. Alexandrova wrapped up the match with a love hold, earning her first Top 20 win of this season and 31st Top 20 win overall.

"I really love playing indoors, and I think [this] court kind of suits my style of game," said the now-three-time Linz finalist Alexandrova. "I enjoy my time playing here, so I’m always trying to stay as long as possible, and it’s working."