American teenager Coco Gauff reaches WTA final for 1st time

LINZ, Austria (AP) — American teenager Coco Gauff advanced to her first WTA final by beating Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday at the Upper Austria Ladies.

The 15-year-old Gauff saved nine of 10 break points against her German opponent.

Gauff, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and third round at the U.S. Open, on Friday became the youngest woman to make the semifinals of a WTA tournament since Nicole Vaidisova won Tashkent in 2004. She did so with a straight-sets victory over the eighth-ranked Kiki Bertens.

Lucky loser Gauff faces 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the final. The Latvian saved three match points to beat eighth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.