Shenzhen Open: Simona Halep vs. Katrina Siniakova in the final on Saturday. Begu/Halep qualify to the doubles final

World No.1 Simona Halep strolled into her second career final at the Shenzhen Open on Friday afternoon by defeating compatriot and No.4 seed Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

Halep kept her perfect record against her doubles partner this week in tact with the victory, running her head-to-head against the Romanian No.3 to 6-0, while also winning her 11th straight match against compatriots, wtatennis.com informs.

The 26-year-old hasn’t lost to a countrywoman in over seven years, with her last defeat coming at the hands of Sorana Cirstea in 2010.

“It was a tough match, I know that she’s a very strong player and in the second set, you could see that she was improving her game. I was strong enough to hit the ball [well] in the end…and I’m really proud with my victory today. It was a tough one,” Halep said.

“I’m again in the final here in Shenzhen, I’m really happy to play the final again here. I always enjoy playing here and it’s going to be a big challenge tomorrow. I’m ready to play and we’ll see what’s going to happen.

Redirecting Begu’s blistering ground strokes with aplomb, Halep’s precise counterpunching earned her four breaks of the No.4 seed’s serve, as she won both the last five games of the opener, and four of the last five in the match.

The two players both struck 15 winners in the match, but Begu racked up eight more unforced errors than Halep in the 89-minute match, accumulating 23 over the course of 17 games.

In the final, Halep will face the winner of the second semifinal between defending champion Katerina Siniakova and former World No.1 Maria Sharapova. The Czech defeated Halep en route to winning her first career title in Shenzhen last season.

In the second semi-final played on Friday, Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic, 21, 47^th WTA) has defeated Maria Sharapova (Russia) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

In 2017, at Schenzhen Open, Siniakova defeated Simona Halep 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the second round and won the tournament after defeating Alison Riske (United States) 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

Begu/Halep pair qualifies to the doubles final

The pair Simona Halep/Irina Begu has qualified on Friday in the final of the doubles event at the WTA tournament in Shenzhen.

In the semi-finals, the Romanians defeated Anna Blinkova/Nicola Geuer (Russia/Germany) 6-2, 6-7, 10-6 in one hour and 29 minutes.

It is the first final for Halep and Begu in the WTA circuit. The Romanian tennis players, who are pairing for the fourth time in their career, also played a semi-final in Madrid in 2016.

The second semi-final was won by Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) against Lesley Kerkhove/Lidziya Marozava (Netherlands/Belarus) 7-5, 3-6, 10-4.

The final will take place on Saturday.