While guest of honour Ana Ivanovic landed at Linz Airport late on Saturday afternoon, the 2,500 spectators in the sold-out Design Center experienced a semi-final day of world-class tennis. First, second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated crowd favourite Donna Vekic 5:7, 7:6 (7:4), 7:6 (8:6) in a match that was hard to beat in terms of drama and level. The tournament's number one, Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia), who was playing in top form, then defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6:2, 6:3, serving ten aces in the process! This is the first time since 2020 that the tournament's top two seeds have met in the final. Back then, Aryna Sabalenka had beaten Belgian Elise Mertens in the final.
 
The former world number one and two-time Linz winner Ana Ivanovic arrived at the Design Centre in the evening, where she gave an autograph session, dealt with interview requests in a friendly and down-to-earth manner and watched Kaiserschmarren being prepared in the VIP area. The 36-year-old fondly recalled her tournament victories in Linz in 2008 and 2010 and raved about the traditional hospitality and feel-good atmosphere of the event run by tournament director Sandra Reichel and her father Peter-Michael Reichel: "The Linz tournament always had a very special family charm, it was one of my favourite tournaments." The 2008 French Open winner was delighted with the new iconic trophy from Swarovski: "There was no trophy like this in my time, it's definitely an upgrade, I'd love to just take it with me." In the VIP area, the Serbian met Donna Vekic from Croatia, with whom she chatted warmly and took a photo together. Vekic let Ivanovic cheer her up a little. She had previously left centre court very dejected after her bitter defeat.
 
"I left my heart on the court, my level was very good, but I couldn't do much more today. Of course I'm disappointed because I really like this tournament," said the 27-year-old, who had already led 5:1 in the tiebreak of the third set and then brilliantly fended off a match point at 5:6 - a storm of applause erupted in the Design Centre. After Alexandrova then converted her second match point with a service winner, Vekic was given a standing ovation. "The support was great and I've enjoyed this week," said the world number 34, who was serving in Linz for the seventh time; it was her first time in the semi-finals.
 
Alexandrova, who lives not far away in Prague, is also a regular in Upper Austria. The world no. 21 once made her breakthrough on the tour here in 2018 when she reached the final as a qualifier (and lost to Camila Giorgi). "I always play well here. At no other tournament do I play better than here. Now I have to rest, the final will be another difficult match. Jelena hits a lot of winners and it's so difficult to play against her," said Alexandrova. "A win would mean so much to me. I played my first final here. And to win the title now would be incredible."

Top seed Ostapenko plays at breakneck speed and then completes autograph marathon
 
Ostapenko, the world number twelve, once again wore her self-designed "lucky outfit" with the combination of lavender purple and green and white stripes. She won her match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2015 Linz winner, in a rapid 74 minutes. The Latvian was only slowed down after the match. It took Ostapenko almost 20 minutes to get off the court and into the dressing room; hundreds of hands with mobile phones and signing pens stretched out towards her. Ostapenko patiently signed autographs and smiled readily for the cameras, enjoying the atmosphere in the hall and the support of the crowd to the full. She hopes the fans will also cheer her on in the final on Sunday at 2 p.m.: "Thank you for coming, it's a pleasure to play here," said the 26-year-old from Riga. "The final will be a very tough match, but I feel like I'm playing better match by match and hopefully I can do it again tomorrow. I hope you'll all be there again to cheer me on."
 
The Upper Austria Ladies Linz 2024, which is celebrating its premiere as a WTA 500 tournament, has prize money totalling 922,573 US dollars at stake. The winner will receive the new iconic trophy from Swarovski, which is adorned with 8,100 crystals.
 
The Upper Austrian singer-songwriter Ina Regen will provide the musical accompaniment before the individual final - in keeping with Upper Austria Day.
 
In the doubles final following the singles, the Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini will face the top seeded pairing of Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) and Ellen Perez (Australia).

Wheelchair Nations Cup

It was a successful revenge! In the "Wheelchair Nations Cup", which was played between the best wheelchair tennis players from Austria and Germany, Germany came out on top in the end with a score of 2:1.

Austria (with Christina Pesendorfer and Nico Langmann) won the mixed doubles against the duo Britta Wend and Anthony Dittmar from Germany. Dittmar and Wend dominated the two singles matches. The players previously competed against each other at the Hamburg European Open in July 2023. Back then, Team Austria claimed victory in exciting matches. Congratulations on the win! 

The inclusion event is once again being supported this year by Volkshilfe Oberösterreich.