Ivanovic, Kerber advance to WTA final in Austria

LINZ, Austria, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Straight-set wins Saturday by Angelique Kerber and Ana Ivanovic sent both players into the finals of the WTA's Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Austria.

Kerber, seeded No. 1, beat fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-0 in 51 minutes and Ivanovic, the No. 3 seed, followed with a solid 6-4, 6-4 decision over Stefanie Voegele in just more than an hour.

Kerber advances to her ninth WTA title match overall and third this year. She lost to Petra Kvitova Sept. 28 in the Toray Pan Pacific Open finals in Tokyo.

Ivanovic is 11-4 in championship matches with two of the titles (2008, '10) coming in Linz. Sunday's match will be her first finals appearance since 2011.

Ivanovic is 3-1 all-time verses Kerber, including a 2-1 mark in 2013 although Kerber won the most recent meeting.

Kerber lost the first set she played this week 0-6 but has sailed through since then. She's not lost more than three games in the set since. She lost 13 points on serve and took nearly two-thirds of the points and had six breaks when Suarez Navarro served.

Ivanovic is yet to lose a set this week and dropped 15 points over 10 games serving Saturday.