Niculescu, Arruabarrena reach Korea Open final

24 Sep, 2016

SEOUL: Fifth seed Monica Niculescu of Romania on Saturday sailed through to the Korea Open finals to take on Spain's Lara Arruabarrena for the crown.

The 28-year-old Niculescu, currently the world number 55, trounced third seed Shuai Zhang of China 6-0, 6-4 in 74 minutes.

Playing the first event since reaching the third round of the US Open this month, the 55th-ranked Niculescu remained almost perfect throughout the battle, displaying powerful and accurate shots against the 27-year-old Zhang, ranked 40.

The other semi-final saw Arruabarrena, ranked 90th, end the run of Romania's Patricia Tig, ranked 135th, with a 6-1, 6-2 win.

The 22-year-old Arruabarrena advanced to the semifinals after brushing aside second seed Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-4, 6-0.

The final takes place on Sunday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2016

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