Briggs & Kippax In All-English Finnish Open Final

Lauren Briggs and Sarah Kippax will meet in the all-English final of the Savcor Women's Finnish Open in Mikkeli which was predicted by the seedings.

Briggs, the top seed, fought back from a game down to beat Belgium's fourth seed Charlie de Rycke 3-9, 9-4, 9-2, 9-0 in 41 minutes.

"It was a tough match. Charlie played really well in the beginning," said the 26-year-old from London. "I was happy to come back and win it in the end. She made it very difficult and I really had to work hard."

Briggs is celebrating her second successive WISPA World Tour final this month after winning the Swiss Open two weeks ago in Geneva.

Sarah Kippax, the No2 seed, won the opening game in her surprise semi-final against Aisling Blake - but then went 1/2 down as the seventh seed from Ireland began to take the upper hand.

The 22-year-old from Chester ultimately reclaimed the advantage and went on to win 9-3, 2-9, 6-9, 9-6, 9-2 in 55 minutes.

"It was a very hard match," said Kippax later. "In the fourth, when I was 5-0 down, I decided to slow it down and to avoid errors. It worked and I think she got a bit tired in the fifth," added the English woman who is now in her third WISPA final.

Semi-finals:
[1] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt [4] Charlie de Rycke (BEL) 3-9, 9-4, 9-2, 9-0 (41m)
[2] Sarah Kippax (ENG) bt [7] Aisling Blake (IRL) 9-3, 2-9, 6-9, 9-6, 9-2 (55m)