Sakkari beat Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 after 3 hours and 4 minutes of play. She is in her fourth final at WTA level and wants to win her second title (after Rabat in 2019).

"The level of this game was extremely high," said the Greek happily afterwards. "I had to unpack some extreme shots and play very physical tennis."

Anett Kontaveit confirms indoor form

In the final, Sakkari meets Anett Kontaveit, number 2 in St. Petersburg. And the woman who currently has to be beaten at indoor tournaments: The Estonian had a great run at the end of the past season and won the tournaments in Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca.

In the semifinals in St. Petersburg she beat Jelena Ostapenko 6:3 and 6:4.

In a direct comparison between Sakkari and Kontaveit it is 6:6, Kontaveit had won the last two matches.