Wildcard Isabella Kruger's impressive run at the Ilana Kloss International ended at the hands of Eudice Chong on Saturday with the Chinese world No.392 winning their semi-final clash in three sets.
The South African 16-year-old went down 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 in a match that lasted 1 hour and 42 minutes at the University of Pretoria.
In the opening set, Kruger, who was playing in an ITF $25,000 World Tennis Tour semi-final for the first time, dominated the set closing it 6-2 in 33 minutes.
An early break put the Chinese in control of the second set and she went on to win the set, 6-4 to push the match to a decider.
Chong, who knocked out last week’s W60 champion Anastasia Tikhonova earlier in the week, closed out the third set 6-0 in just 24 minutes to book herself a place in the final.
Chong will now face either Russian second seed Valeria Savinykh or her doubles partner Hong Yi Cody Wong on Sunday for the title.
Rain suspended play during Savinykh and Wong’s semifinal match. It was one-set apiece with the Russian leading 1-0 in the third set before the rain hit City of Tshwane. The clash is scheduled to resume on Sunday at 09h00.
Results
Semi-final
Singles
Eudice Chong (HKG) bt Isabella Kruger (RSA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-0
2-Valeria Savinykh (RUS) vs Hong Yi Cody Wong (HKG) 3-6, 6-4, 1-0
Doubles
3-Eudice Chong / Hong Yi Cody Wong (HKG) bt 1-Valeriya Strakhova (UKR) / Anastasia Tikhonova 6-2, 3-6, 10-3
4-Anna Sinclair Rogers / Christina Rosca (USA) bt 2-Timea Babos (HUN) / Valeria Savinykh (RUS) 6-4, 3-6, 10-8