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SHENZHEN, China, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The eighth seed Alison Riske of the United States set a meeting with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Repubic in the final of the WTA Shenzhen Open here on Friday, after dispatching Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-3, 6-3.
Thus, Riske set her as the second player to reach the final at the tournament for two consecutive years. The first to achieve that was former Chinese No. 1 Li Na, who was crowned here in 2013 and 2014.
Asked whether the final experience last year will help her this year, Riske said: "I really hope so, I'm really happy to go into another final here. I feel so comfortable here, everyone is so nice and welcome me. I'm just happy to be here for the final."
"Obviously, I would love to win (the final), but I have to focus on myself, focus on my own game plan. Obviously I'm going to play a really strong competitor. She is playing really well so I'm just gonna do the best I can," said the 26-year-old.
The semifinal against Giorgi turned out to be an one-side match as Riske didn't encounter much resistance to claim the victory in one hour and 14 minutes.
The 39th-ranked American survived a rematch of last year final in the quarterfinal yesterday where she took a sweet revenge on top seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.
The Shenzhen Open, inaugurated in 2013, offers the highest prize money of any International tier events on the calendar, totaling 750,000 US dollars.
