Svitolina v Peng in Taiwan Open final

Taipei - Top seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine secured a spot in the Taiwan Open final on Saturday after beating Luxembourg's Mandy Minella in straight sets.

Svitolina, who has been struggling with a flu since arriving in Taipei and only narrowly defeated her rival the previous night to advance to the semi-finals, defeated Minella 6-3, 6-2.

Svitolina will face China's Shuai Peng, a two-time Grand Slam doubles winner, on Sunday.

Peng, ranked 71st, has been gathering momentum after defeating a string of higher-ranked players, including Czech Lucie Safarova, ranked 55th, 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday.

Peng also knocked out Czech Katerina Siniakova, ranked 40th, and second-seed Australian Samantha Stosur, ranked 23th, to reach the last four.

She returned to tennis last March after taking a break from playing following an operation for a waist injury in 2015.

The only previous encounter between Svitolina and Peng was in the 2014 New Haven Open when the Chinese emerged victorious after two sets.