Croatia's Donna Vekic (left) and Colombia's Camilo Osorio beat their separate semifinals foes and will dispute the women's singles crown of the Philippine Women's Open at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center. PHILTA/Philippine Women's Open
MANILA – Croatia's Donna Vekic and Colombia's Camila Osorio are set to clash for the inaugural crown of the WTA 125 Philippine Women's Open.
After experiencing hours long delay due to rain for her opening match, Vekic had to deal with another brief pause against Russia's Tatiana Prozorova.
World No. 72 Vekic weathered the challenge of Prozorova in the second set, staying composed to close out the match, 6-2, 6-4.
"It's gonna be a tough match but you know I think we both have a good chance, let's see, I will focus on myself, try to make a good game plan with my coach and hope for the best," Vekic said in the post-match press conference
Reaching the final meant a lot more for Vekic, who entered the tournament wanting to get more matches in at this point of the season.
"The last year hasn't been the most easy in terms of results and yeah everything so it feels really good to you know have a couple of matches in a row, to be winning to be back in the finals. I'm really happy and I'm really proud of my performance this week because it was some mental battles as well," she said.
Vekic, who has been 'adopted' by the Filipino tennis fans, is hopeful she will get the same support in the final.
READ: Here's how 'adopted Filipina' Donna Vekic spent her afternoon while waiting for PWO match
"Even today the support is great. Unfortunately for them I will not be playing Alex tomorrow, a very sad loss yesterday against Camila but hopefully now they will be cheering for me tomorrow," she said.
As for Osorio, it only took her 46 minutes to enter the final of the tournament.
The Colombian player put in a dominant effort against Solana Sierra of Argentina, serving up a bagel in the first set, 6-0.
Osorio did not give Sierra any chances in the second set, taking advantage of the Argentinian player's errors to close out the match, 6-1.
"I'm really happy to be in the finals to be honest. I think it was a great match. I played my best today and I'm really, really excited for what's coming tomorrow," she said.
"It's gonna be for sure a challenge. I've played her before in the past. I know she's a very aggressive player. She likes to be on top of the ball every single time and take the time away from you. So I gotta be ready for that and I'm gonna try and make it really physical because I like to play more points and longer points I think will be better for me," Osorio shared.
The Philippine Women's Open final is set for Saturday afternoon on center court, still at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.