TSHWANE, April 9, 2022 (Tennis South Africa Press Release)

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 16-year-old South African went down 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 in a match that lasted one hour and 42 minutes at the University of Pretoria.

In the opening set, Kruger, who was playing in an ITF World Tennis Tour W25 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 9 am local time.

Rain suspended play during 🇷🇺 Valeria Savinykh and 🇭🇰 Cody Wong’s semifinal match at TuksTennis. 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 9am #IlanaKlossInternational pic.twitter.com/JdUEkxrXKK

— Tennis South Africa (@TennisSA) April 9, 2022

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