Tennis: Erakovic through to final

Kiwi tennis No 1 Marina Erakovic has won her way into the final of the WTA tournament in Canada. Photo / Getty

Kiwi tennis No 1 Marina Erakovic has won her way into the final of the WTA tournament in Quebec, Canada, after a quality win against American Christina McHale this morning.

Erakovic won her semifinal 6-4 6-3 in a match that lasted just under one and three quarter hours. Erakovic had 14 opportunities to break McHale's serve, capitalizing on six of them.

It is the second time Erakovic has made the final of the Quebec WTA event. She lost to Barbora Zahlavavo Strycova in the final in 2011. Erakovic will be aiming for her second career singles title, after winning her maiden title earlier this year at Memphis.

In the final, Erakovic will play world No 48 Lucie Safarova, a former top-20 player from the Czech Republic who defeated local hope 3-6 6-3 6-2 Eugenie Bouchard in the other semifinal.

Erakovic and Safarova have played against each other just once before, with Safarova winning a three-set battle at the Australian Open in 2009.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has lost the doubles match in its Davis Cup tie against the Philippines in the Asia/Oceania Group II final at Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines to have a 2-1 lead going in to the reverse singles tonight.

After Micheal Venus and Rubin Statham won their opening day singles to give the Kiwis a 2-0 lead. However the doubles was always going to be a different contest with the home side able to name Treat Huey who is currently ranked at 28 in the world in doubles.

Huey combined with Francis Alcantara to defeat the New Zealand combination of Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak 6-4 6-3 6-4 and keep the home team in the tie.

The vital reverse singles will now see Statham take on Gonzales in the first match followed by Venus against Arcilla in the fifth contest of the tie.

Statham and Gonzales have clashed once before in singles with the Kiwi winning in Davis Cup in 2011 in straight sets. Venus and Arcilla have never played before.

The Philippines have a 3-2 head-to-head record against New Zealand in Davis Cup dating back to 1963. The last time the sides played it was New Zealand the winner, 5-0 in Hawera. The last time they clashed in the Philippines was in 2009 when the home team won 4-1.

The winner of the tie will gain promotion to Asia/Oceania Group I alongside nations such as Australia, Japan and India.