ISTANBUL, Turkey - Croatia's Petra Martic advanced to her third career WTA singles final at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup on Saturday as Russia's Margarita Gasparyan retired following the opening set.

The No.6 seed was leading the match after winning the opener, 6-1, and won the first two points of the second set before the Russian could no longer continue.

After defeating Kristina Mladenovic in the longest match of the season in the quarterfinals, and needing three sets to win her first three matches this week in Turkey, Martic advanced to the final after just 52 minutes of play.


Martic is 0-2 in career finals on the WTA in her career, having broken a six-year drought of championship appearances when she reached the final in Bucharest last summer.

In that match, she finished runner-up to Anastasija Sevastova, and had previously lost to Hsieh Su-wei in the final of Kuala Lumpur in 2012.

A 19th different title-winner on tour this season will be guaranteed regardless of who raises the trophy on Sunday, as Martic will next face unseeded Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova.

More to come...