Elina Svitolina and Wang Xinju to meet in the WTA Tour event final in Auckland

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Top-seeded Elina Svitolina will play in the final of the WTA Tour event in Auckland for the second time after beating American teenager Iva Jovic 7-6 (5), 6-2 in a semifinal Saturday.

The 13th-ranked Svitolina also reached the final in 2024 when she lost to American Coco Gauff.

Svitolina's opponent in Sunday's final will be seventh-seeded Wang Xinju of China, who beat fourth-seeded Alexandra Eala of the Philippines 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

Svitolina looked a little weary at first Saturday after an almost three-hour quarterfinal against Sonay Katal on Friday night, which she won 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).

She dropped serve twice in the first three games Saturday to trail 3-0 against the 35th-ranked Jovic, the eight-ranked American on the WTA Tour. Svitolina broke back twice to level at 4-4, then dropped serve again allowing Jovic to serve for the first set at 5-4.

But Jovic lost her serve to love and Svitolina took the set to a tiebreak in which she led 6-1 before taking the set on her third opportunity.

She made short work of the second set, breaking Jovic in the third and fifth games and sealing the match with two aces in her final service game.

Svitolina has been supported all week by her husband Gael Monfils, who will play in the men's tour event in Auckland starting Monday.

“It's nice to get a straight-sets win,” Svitolina said. "Yesterday was a big battle and today as well in the first set. Iva was playing really well and I had to really fight back, dig deep and try to find my level and I'm very happy to be able to finish this match in two sets to save some energy for the finals.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis