Qualifier Olivia Gadecki, No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech to play for WTA 500 title in Guadalajara

In a draw that featured five former Top 10 players among its Top 8 seeds, it will be qualifier Olivia Gadecki and No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech who will play for the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open Akron title on Sunday.

Sunday's final is gauaranteed to crown a first-time WTA singles champion, as Gadecki had never reached even a quarterfinal before making her Mexican breakthrough while Frech lost her only previous championship appearance: on home soil in Poland earlier this year to her countrywoman, Magda Linette.

Gadecki, 22 and a mentee of former world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, was the first to punch her ticket to the final with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Colombia's Camila Osorio on Saturday, her sixth straight win for the week. After two wins in qualifying, Gadecki started her main-draw efforts by beating former US Open champion Sloane Stephens, then No. 2 seed Danielle Collins in the second round for her second career Top 20 win.

Gadecki, who entered the tournament ranked No. 152, hadn't won a main-draw WTA match outside of Australia before coming to Guadalajara, but will also achieve a ranking milestone regardless of result: She'll break the Top 100 for the first time on Monday regardless of the result.

"This week's been a special one, and to be Top 100 is pretty amazing and something I've strived for for my whole career," Gadecki said post-match.

"My game plan was really just to play how I've always played. I'm an aggressive player, and I know I do well when I back myself and just commit, and I really feel like I did that well today."

Frech, meanwhile, rallied in both sets to top former world No. 4 Garcia, who had received a walkover from Marie Bouzkova in the quarterfinals and was bidding to reach her first singles final on tour in more than a year. Frech, Garcia and sixth-seeded Bouzkova were the only seeds to make it out of the second round of the tournament, which also saw a pre-event withdrawal from defending champion Maria Sakkari.

Frech trailed 3-0 in the first set, and saved two set points at 5-3 before leveling. In the tiebreak, she also fell behind 3-0 before she took six of the next seven points to eventually pocket the set. She also trained 3-0 in the second set, this time at a double break, but won three straight games to level and again came back from a break behind at 4-3.

Frech entered Guadalajara ranked No. 43, one spot off her career high, but the in-form Pole is also assured of breaking new ground into the Top 40 in Monday's rankings regardless of the result in the final.