British No 3's career-best week ended by the former world No 1 in Romania after a stunning run to a career-first tour semi-final; watch the launch of the Sky Sports Tennis Channel from Sunday
Saturday 10 February 2024 22:55, UK
Harriet Dart's hopes of following up her first WTA Tour semi-final appearance with a maiden final were dashed by Karolina Pliskova at the Transylvania Open.
Dart, the British No 3, had enjoyed a career-best week in the Romanian city of Cluj, winning two qualifiers to progress to the main draw and then three more matches to reach the last four, dropping just one set on the way.
But things were tougher against former world No 1 Pliskova, who broke Dart's serve three times to take the opening set 6-3 before easing clear in the second set by the same 6-3 score.
Dart dropped serve to start the match and found herself under constant pressure on her own delivery.
She kept the match competitive after going 4-0 down in the second set but was unable to turn the contest around.
But Dart can undoubtedly take great heart from her impressive week after a run to the semi-finals which is set to see the 27-year-old rise 11 places in the WTA rankings to 92nd on Monday.
Pliskova, meanwhile, will now play Ana Bogdan in Sunday's final after the No 8 seed came through an all-Romanian semi-final in a closely-fought three sets against Adina Cristian, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Watch the final live on Sky Sports Arena on Sunday, not before 3.30pm.
Pliskova is a 16-time winner on tour but last won a title in 2020.
Top seed Elena Rybakina made a fast start before battling past Russian Liudmila Samsonova 6-0 4-6 6-2 in the Abu Dhabi Open semi-finals on Saturday to book an intriguing title clash with Daria Kasatkina.
The former Wimbledon champion, seeking her second title of the season following her Brisbane triumph, breezed through the opening set in double quick time by unleashing her big serve and heavy groundstrokes.
But eighth seed Samsonova had other ideas and went ahead 4-1 in the second set, mixing up her power game with deft drops shots before levelling at one set apiece to keep alive hopes of a fifth win over the Moscow-born Kazakh in as many meetings.
Rybakina ramped up the pressure and grabbed a break in the fourth game of the decider after an untimely double fault by Samsonova and there was no looking back as the world number five wrapped up the contest.
Earlier, seventh seed Kasatkina also shook off a mid-match blip to move into her second final of the season with a 6-3 4-6 7-6(2) victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia in an absorbing contest lasting nearly three hours.
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