Rothesay Classic Birmingham 2024 Final preview: Ajla Tomlijanovic vs Yulia Putintseva
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The 2024 Rothesay Classic Birmingham final has been confirmed after Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva won their respective matches to progress to their maiden grass-court final.
The two semi-final victors will now go head-to-head on the final day in Birmingham, battling for the coveted Maud Watson trophy in what will be their sixth meeting.
The eighth day slate at the Edgbaston Priory Club brought the semi-final action as spectators laid eyes on two straight-sets matches on the Ann Jones Centre Court, ending in victories for the two former Grand Slam quarter-finalists.
Putintseva comfortably defeated an in-form Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-2, 6-2 in her semi-final meeting, while Tomljanovic, ranked 190, ousted the only remaining seed in the tournament, Anastasia Potapova, 7-6(5), 6-4.
The Australian, who returned from an eight-month hiatus after an injury-ravaged 2023, saw her biggest win by ranking since November 2022 thanks to her victory over Potapova.
Although Tomljanovic and Putintseva recorded their best spells on the grass this past week, both players are familiar with the fast-paced nature of the surface.
31-year-old Tomljanovic is a well-versed grass player, with her Grand Slam breakthrough coming at Wimbledon when she reached successive quarter-finals in 2021 and 2022, while the Kazakhstani No.2 previously went as far as the quarter-finals in Birmingham back in 2019.
Tomljanovic also reached the quarter-finals of a former WTA 250 grass event at the Mallorca Open in 2018, but would eventually bow out to the then top 20 star Anastasija Sevastova.
Beyond her successes on the grass, Tomljanovic finished runner-up at four WTA finals in her career, including a WTA 500 final in 2018, before soaring up the rankings to reach a career high of world No.32 in April last year.
In the 2024 season, her comeback trail after injury was sidelined due to undergoing surgery in February, leading her to spending little time on court until her opener in Paris.
Meanwhile, Putintseva’s decorated career saw her rise to world No.27 in the wake of her run at the WTA 500 St. Petersburg in 2017, just falling short of the title in three to eventual world No.1 Kristina Mladenovic.
The 29-year-old’s first piece of silverware came in 2019, lifting a WTA 250 title in Nürnberg before capturing her second at the Hungarian Grand Prix two years later.
Putintseva’s streak in the Midlands comes after stretching as far as the quarter-finals in two Masters 1000 events this year, including the Miami and Madrid Open.
As two experienced stars get ready to take centre stage in Sunday’s final, we eagerly await to crown our 2024 Rothesay Classic champion in a sure-to-be scintillating showpiece.
The doubles action also continues as Miyu Kato and Shuai Zhang face off with top seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Elise Mertens.
Keep up to date with the latest results and updates at the Rothesay Classic Birmingham
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