Katie Boulter and Jodie Burrage set up a mouthwatering all-British final at the Nottingham Open with respective semi-final victories on Saturday.
Following a lengthy rain delay, Boulter got the better of Heather Watson 6-4 7-5 before Burrage defeated Alize Cornet 7-5 7-5, as both women reached WTA Tour finals for the first time.
Fresh from defeating one of her compatriots in Harriet Dart in the quarter-finals, Boulter brought up a break point in Watson's opening service game, but the world number 126 failed to convert it.
Boulter would earn her first break in game five before the heavens opened, and the weather-enforced hiatus was just what the doctor ordered for Watson, who subsequently broke back to 15 in the sixth game.
However, the British number one continued to dictate play, and Watson lost her serve in the ninth game before failing to take another opportunity to break Boulter before she successfully served out the opening set.
Watson threatened a fightback as she raced into a 4-1 lead during the second set and brought up four break point opportunities in the fifth game, but a resilient Boulter saved all four of them to spark a stellar turnaround.
The wildcard broke immediately after that nervy hold and repeated the trick in the 11th game to move four points away from a maiden WTA final, ultimately going through on her first match point thanks to another vicious forehand.
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"It means so much to me, especially here. It was a really tough match and I just tried to put my heart on the line and managed to get through in the end," said Boulter, who embraced Watson at the net a day after her frosty exchange with Dart.
Burrage sought to follow in Boulter's footsteps later in the day, but some early nerves seemed to kick in against a player ranked 49 places higher than her in Cornet, the Briton was broken in her opening service game before immediately drawing level at 2-2.
The 24-year-old revelled in the occasion as she saved another two break points in the sixth game, before Cornet lost her serve in the 11th game and ceded a closely-contested first set.
With the pressure cranked up a notch, neither Burrage nor Cornet were on top form at the start of the second set, and not until the sixth game would either player finally hold their serve.
Crucially for Burrage, she was the one to establish a 4-2 advantage after five successive breaks, but Cornet refused to wave the white flag as she levelled at 4-4 to silence the crowd.
However, a perfectly-executed smash sealed another break for Burrage in the 11th game, and after bringing up three match points on serve with an array of brilliant forehand shots, the 24-year-old progressed on a long Cornet backhand.
"I wasn't expecting this coming into this week but very very happy with my performance," Burrage said on the court. "I was saying 'Jodie you're winning this in two sets', maybe I should say that to myself more often!"
"It's going to be an amazing day tomorrow, me and Boults played a final at the start of the year and she won so hopefully I can change that, but what an amazing tournament for both of us and all the women this week."
Boulter and Burrage have met twice before in competitive action, and the former won both of those contests in three sets, including a 3-6 6-3 6-2 triumph in the final of the ITF Canberra Tennis International in January.
Ben Knapton
