Riske storms into second consecutive final at WTA Shenzhen Open

Shenzhen (China), Jan 7 (IANS) Eighth seed Alison Riske of the US set a meeting with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Repubic in the final of the $750,000 WTA Shenzhen Open tennis tournament here.

Riske dispatched Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-3, 6-3 in the semi-final on Friday to become the second player to reach the final at the tournament for two consecutive years, reports Xinhua news agency.

The first to achieve that was former Chinese No.1 Li Na, who was crowned here in 2013 and 2014.

Asked whether the final experience last year will help her this year, Riske said: "I really hope so, I'm really happy to go into another final here. I feel so comfortable here, everyone is so nice and welcome me. I'm just happy to be here for the final."

"Obviously, I would love to win (the final), but I have to focus on myself, focus on my own game plan. Obviously I'm going to play a really strong competitor. She is playing really well so I'm just gonna do the best I can," said the 26-year-old.

The semi-final against Giorgi turned out to be an one-side match as Riske didn't encounter much resistance to claim the victory in one hour and 14 minutes.

The 39th-ranked American survived a rematch of last year final in the quarter-final on Thursday where she took a sweet revenge on top seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.