New Delhi: Unseeded teenagers, former world junior No. 1 Ivana Jorovic (Serbia) and Austria’s Barbara Haas set up a title clash in the QNET Open $50,000 ITF Women’s Circuit here. They secured hard-fought semifinal victories over second-seeded Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Ukraine) and seventh-seeded Elise Mertens (Belgium) respectively at the DLTA Complex on Friday.

Playing her maiden $50,000 ITF tournament, the 17-year-old Ivana Jorovic was over the moon after winning her semifinal with Anastasiya Vasylyeva 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 after a quality contest. The 22-year-old Ukraine left-hander banked on her experience to win the opening set but allowed unforced errors to creep into her game.

Anastasiya Vasylyeva, with seven ITF singles titles, was expected to put herself in line for her second crown this year but Ivana Jorovic raised her game a notch to win the final set easily. The teenager, who won four $10,000 ITF titles in 2012 and 2013, had beaten fourth-seeded Tadja Majeric (Slovekia) in the first round after securing an automatic berth in the main draw.

“She (Vasylyeva) didn't miss many balls in the first set. She played really strongly and hit the ball hard. I lost points at the start because of my own fault,” said Jorovic after cruising through the third set. “I have lost to Barbara Haas before but that was a long time back. I have improved more and Saturday will be different.”

Elise Mertens became the third seeded player to face defeat at the hands of 18-year-old Barbara Haas this week. No. 8 Sofiya Kovalets (Ukraine) and the top-seeded Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (Austria) had ended up on the losing side against Barbara Haas in the first round and the quarterfinals respectively.

The Austrian, who has five $10,000 ITF titles, based her victory on Friday on a strong defence and that was something that Elise Mertens had no hesitation in accepting. “Barbara played well and her defence was strong. I could have been a bit more aggressive but I was a little tired. But no excuses, I could have played better,” Mertens said.

Sadly for Mertens, despite being second seeded with Marina Melnikova (Russia), she ended up on the losing side of the doubles final where the China’s Chang Liu and Jia-Jing Lu ran out easy winners.

Friday’s results:

Singles (semifinals): Barbara Haas (Austria) beat (7) Elise Mertens (Belgium) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; Ivana Jorovic (Serbia) beat (2) Anastasiya Valysyeva (Ukraine) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (final): (4) Chang Liu and Jia-Jing Lu (China) beat (2) Marina Melnikova (Russia) and Elise Mertens (Belgium) 6-3, 6-0