Vondrousova will not win her second WTA title! Kolář celebrates advancing to the Challenger final

It won’t be a second career title. Markéta Vondroušová fell to Russia’s Potapova in three sets before the gates of the final and is out of Linz. On the other hand, Zdeněk Kolář advanced to his fourth Challenger final without losing a blossom, thus significantly improving his ranking again.

The last few months have been difficult for both Vondrousova and Kolar. The French Open and Olympic finalist missed six months due to a wrist injury, while the former Pardubice junior champion experienced a steep drop in the rankings. However, both seem to be looking forward to better tennis times.

The end of Vondroušová’s tennis career

The road to the first semifinal of the year was not a difficult one for the Czech. In Friday’s quarter-final, her opponent even retired after five games. But it seems as if the slight indecision took its toll on Vondroušová on Saturday.

Russia’s Anastasia Potapova (45th) stood in her way to the final. The player who relies on an aggressive style of play started the semifinal as best she could. In less than twenty minutes she built up a 4:0 lead and the Sokolov native just watched in disbelief as one ball after another flew past her. In the end, Potapova took the opening set 6:1.

At the beginning of the second set, Vondrousova started to get more into the game and even led 4:2. In the end, it was the final tiebreak that decided her fate. Thanks to two double faults of her opponent, the Czech player managed to level the match at 1: 1 and the Czech was well on her way.

However, the final set could be compared to the first one. At 3::0 and 40::15 from Potapova’s point of view, the first finalist seemed to be decided. The Czech player managed to make the match even more dramatic, but in the end, despite the reduction in the score, she was unable to turn the tide.

After 1::6, 7::6, 3::6, Markéta Vondroušová will not be able to reach her sixth career final. The consolation is a move in the WTA ranking, namely by fifteen places.

Zdeněk Kolář’s final journey

After the semi-final from Germany, Zdeněk Kolář (214th) headed to the Lithuanian capital in good spirits. However, he was by no means going to have an easy job in Vilnius. Due to his ranking, Kolář did not fit into the seeds and immediately in the second round he met the tournament’s number three Yuri Rodionov (122).

He got through the Austrian in three sets, and did the same in the quarterfinals against Frenchman Escoffier (202nd), equalling his feat from the previous week.

He faced Turkey’s Ilkel (303rd) for his fourth Challenger final appearance. Unlike the previous two rounds, Kolar had no mercy on his opponent this time.

After the result 6::2, 6::3 the Czech tennis player managed to get through to Sunday’s title match, where he will face the British Liam Broady (175th).

Kolář boasts a 100% success rate in final duels, but so far he has only reached all finals on clay.

Whatever the outcome of the match, the native of Bystřice nad Perštejnem will jump back into the second hundred in the new edition of the rankings. Kolář’s current best is last year’s hundred and eleventh position, in case of triumph he would move up to about hundred and seventy.

Source:: WTA, ATP