Finalists of Birmingham are revealed

Two rising stars have reached their first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final. Kateryna Bondarenko and Yanina Wickmayer won their semifinal matches in sraight sets to have a chance to win the Birmingham title.

Bondarenko was the only seed going into the semifinals, and is now the only seed to going into the final. She won to Marina Erakovic in straight sets, 63 62.

"I'm always sad when she loses but that's tennis, one day you win and one day you lose," Kateryna Bondarenko said on her sister's loss the day before. "I wasn't really thinking of revenge, but I guess that's what happened today. But it's always nice to play here. It's easier for me to play on grass, because if you serve well you have a better chance to win, and I've been serving well."

Wickmayer also won her semifianl match against Bethanie Mattek, 75 62. It was a see-saw affair with Wickmayer coming out on top both times: in the first set she was up 5-1 before Mattek closed the gap, but she closed it out anyway; in the second set it was Mattek's turn to take the early lead, going ahead 4-1, but the Belgian rebounded to clinch it in straight sets.

"I've been playing better every day; this is a special surface, and the more you play on it the better you get," Wickmayer said. "I pulled back a little bit when I was ahead and she played aggressively to get back into it. We've had matches like this before. She can come back from behind by playing like this, but I know when things get close I just have to hang in there to close it out."

Both Bondarenko and Wickmayer will be playing in their first ever Tour singles finals, but for Bondarenko it may have been a longer time coming. She has been playing on the Tour for a few years now and had reached six quarterfinals previously but never went further; Wickmayer is playing in just her fourth career Tour main draw and had never reached a quarterfinal.

"I'm excited to play in the final against Yanina," Bondarenko said. "I think it'll be a different match to Fed Cup. I'll treat it just like any other match. That was on clay and this is on grass. And although I still don't feel like it's my best surface, I feel like I've been playing better on grass than I did in the years before. It's hard to get used to it because it's such a short season."

"It's my first final on the Tour and I'm so excited," Wickmayer said. "It's a big match, but we have big matches throughout our careers. A few years ago the final of a $10,000 event was a big match. You grow. I'm one of the youngest players here and so I'm really excited about having a chance to win the title."