Jan 16 (Reuters) - Two of the brightest young talents in tennis will play for the Adelaide International title after 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva and 19-year-old Victoria Mboko advanced to their first WTA 500 final on Friday.
World number eight Andreeva defeated doubles partner Diana Shnaider 6-3 6-2 while Canadian Mboko needed just less than an hour to dispatch local favourite Kimberly Birrell 6-2 6-1.
"Vicky, she's a great player," Andreeva said in an on-court interview. "She had an amazing season last year and I've known her since I was 12 years old.
"I think I've been playing not bad as well, so I think it's going to be a great match tomorrow."
Mboko, last year's WTA Newcomer of the Year whose first title was a WTA 1000-level event in a breakthrough season, overwhelmed Birrell after falling behind 2-1 in the first set.
There was no stopping her when she won nine straight games to surge into the lead, finishing the match with 22 winners.
"We had a lot of good exchange of rallies. I feel like I was able to kind of stay in with her in terms of pace. We had a lot of rallies where we were running a lot and trying to stay neck and neck at the baseline," she said.
"I think having those kinds of rallies and points can help me in other matches when it comes to those points. I think it just gives me a confidence overall."
In Hobart, Saturday's final will be contested by American Iva Jovic and Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
BAEZ, MENSIK WIN DOUBLE HEADERS
Sebastian Baez and Jakub Mensik will contest the ASB Classic final in Auckland after both players navigated a challenging rain-interrupted schedule.
Argentina's Baez completed a remarkable double-header, first wrapping up a 7-5 6-3 quarter-final victory over top seed Ben Shelton that had been suspended on Thursday due to rain, then immediately defeating Marcos Giron 6-1 6-4 in the semi-final.
Czech player Mensik also had to play twice, first beating Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4 6-2 in his quarter-final before defeating Fabian Marozsan 7-6(9) 4-6 6-1 in the semi-final.
"Obviously it was a tough two days," Mensik said. "Yesterday, I was waiting the whole day and like am I going to play or not? I spent all day here, every 30 minutes it was changing, raining, not raining.
"I came today feeling a little bit tired, but I pushed myself and showed really great tennis today. So I'm really grateful that before the (Australian Open) Grand Slam, the form is going up."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
