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Elina Svitolina to face Shuai Peng in Taiwan Open final
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine will face China’s Shuai Peng in the final of the Taiwan Open.
Top seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine secured a spot in the Taiwan Open final Saturday after beating Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella in straight sets.
Svitolina, who has been struggling with a flu since arriving in Taipei and only narrowly defeated her rival the previous night to advance to the semi-finals, defeated Minella 6-3, 6-2.
The 13th seed will face China’s Shuai Peng, a two-time Grand Slam doubles winner, on Sunday.
Peng, ranked 71st, has been gathering momentum after defeating a string of higher-ranked players, including Czech Lucie Safarova, ranked 55th, 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday.
Peng also knocked out Czech Katerina Siniakova, ranked 40th, and second-seed Australian Samantha Stosur, ranked 23th, to reach the last four.
She returned to tennis last March after taking a break from playing following an operation for a waist injury in 2015.
The only previous encounter between Svitolina and Peng was in the 2014 New Haven Open when the Chinese emerged victorious after two sets.
