(Los Angeles) Tunisian Ons Jabeur, world No. 5, beat Russian Daria Kasatkina (8e), 7-5, 7-5, to climb, for the second year in a row, in the final of the WTA 500 tournament in Charleston (clay).
Kasatkina, who won the tournament in 2017, broke Jabeur three times in the first set to lead 5-2, before the match was suspended for several hours due to rain, with Kasatkina leading 5-3.
But, reinvigorated on the restart, Jabeur lined up five games in a row to snatch the first set 7-5 in 52 minutes.
After a nice battle between the two champions, Jabeur won the second round by the same score and will play her first final of the season and her eleventh on the WTA circuit.
Jabeur, finalist at Wimbledon and at the United States Open last year, will find in the final the winner of the other semi-final, between defending champion Belinda Bencic (11e) and the American Jessica Pegula (3e).