Teenager Tauson wins to set up Lyon final against Golubic

Posted March 06, 2021 6:00 am

The Associated Press

LYON, France (AP) - Danish teenager Clara Tauson continued her remarkable form at the Lyon Open, beating seventh-seeded Paula Badosa of Spain 7-5, 6-1 on Saturday to set up a first career final against fellow qualifier Viktorija Golubic.

Golubic caused another upset by beating second-seeded Fiona Ferro 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (4) in the sixth career semifinal for the Swiss.

Tauson had seven aces and, although she dropped her serve twice, the 18-year-old broke Badosa's serve five times to maintain her perfect run as the only player not to drop a set at the indoor tournament.

'œI kept my nerves and my calm. I'm not thinking too much about tomorrow," Tauson said after the first semifinal of her career. "I'm just going to go out there and have fun like I have in all the matches so far."

The 139th-ranked Tauson is a former Australian Open junior champion. Her performance here in Lyon is even more impressive considering she came through two qualifying rounds, and then had to face top-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round.

'œI think I didn't play as good today as I did the other days, I just tried to stay in the match,'ť Tauson said. 'œEven though my level was maybe 10% less than the other days, I still felt pretty comfortable and won a lot of points.'ť

Tauson has practiced 'œa couple of times'ť in the past with countrywoman Caroline Wozniaki, who was ranked No. 1 in 2010 and won the Australian Open among her 30 career titles.

'œWe know each other ... but it's not like we're close or anything,'ť Tauson said. 'œWe come from different times (eras) in Danish tennis and she lives in the USA.'ť

The 28-year-old Golubic is ranked 130th and also came through two qualifying rounds here.

Ferro broke her for 6-5 and served for the match. Golubic broke back to force a tiebreaker and won on her first match point to reach her third career final and first since losing at Linz, Austria, in October 2016.

Golubic won her only career title in July that year, on home clay at Gstaad.

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FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, Viktorija Golubic, of Switzerland, returns a shot to Vera Lapko, of Belarus, during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, in New York. Danish teenager Clara Tauson continued her remarkable form at the Lyon Open, beating seventh-seeded Paula Badosa of Spain 7-5, 6-1 on Saturday March 6, 2021, to set up a first career final against fellow qualifier Viktorija Golubic.(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, FILE) The Associated Press

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