BMW M'sian Open: World No 9 Svitolina to meet Bouchard in final

Svitolina, 21, beat the only qualifier left in the tournament, Zhu Lin of China 6-3, 6-3 in a match that lasted 61 minutes at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club, today.

"I expected a good match. Zhu started well…it was a pretty tough start for me and I knew that I really needed to focus and wait for my opportunities.

"It did not affect me when she broke my serve in the first game of the second set. I was just thinking about my game. I felt I needed to push her harder in the second set and it worked as I won five games in the row," said Svitolina.

She said her win over Zhu was one of her best matches this season, after she fought hard in the second round and quarterfinal to make good comebacks.

For the record, Svitolina has won seven singles and two doubles tittles in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Circuit, three singles and two doubles tittles in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour, respectively.

Bouchard, currently ranked 52 in the world, defeated Briton Naomi Broady 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinal round that took only 76 minutes, today.

"My game is always aggresive. I couldn't attack her in the first serve, she was an amazing server. She's serving pretty fast and also very accurate. I just try to get the first serve in the court and besides that I still have the opportunity to be aggressive.

"I think I was more solid and consistent than her today. I try to improve different areas of my game, so I feel like I have improved already since last week and for me that's my goal right now," said former number five Bouchard.

According to the WTA website, Svitolina had beaten Bouchard three times in the 2013 Indian Wells Open, Miami Open and 2015 Western & Southern Open, respectively.

In the doubles, Varatchaya Wongteanchai of Thailand/Yang Zhaoxuan of China will meet doubles' first seed, Liang Chen/Wang Yafan of China in the final tomorrow.

Following are the results of the 2016 BMW Malaysian Open:

Elina Svitolina (UKR) bt Zhu Lin (CHN) 6-3, 6-3 Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) bt Naomi Broady (GBR) 6-4, 6-3

Women's Doubles semifinals round