The Mercer Tennis Classic has been a good for surprises and upstarts.

            For seeds, not so much.

            Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay and Varvara Lepchenko of the U.S. will battle at 12:30 p.m. Sunday in the finals, pitting two top-175 players for the trophy and largest chunk of the $80,000 prize money at the Leroy Peddy Tennis Center.

          Cepede Royg beat seventh seed Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 2-0/retired while Lepchenko upsended Allie Kiick 6-2, 7-5 in the semis. Bouzkova had eliminated second-seeded Jessica Pegula in a quarterfinal, and Cepede Royg ended the nifty run of qualifier Hailey Baptiste 6-4, 6-4 in another quarterfinal.

          Cepede Royg has been ranked in the top 75, and would rather have played a full match.

          “It was a good day for me,” the 26 year old from Asunción, Paraguay said. “It’s not a good way to win with the retirement. I hope the best for her, but I’m happy to be in the finals.”

          The wind made its presence known, but didn’t impact her ground game

“It’s tough to play two matches, but with the wind it wasn’t too warm today,” she said. “The wind makes it tough for both players. I try to change my serve up a little when it’s windy, but it’s not easy.”

Lepchenko has been ranked in the top 20, and the 32 year old has finished in the top 100 the last seven years. She hasn’t dropped a set in the tournament.

          Ingrid Neel and Anna Danilina will face Caty McNally and Pegula in the doubles final, Neel-Danilina upending top seed Alexa Guarachi and Giullana Olmoes 6-4, 4-6 (13-11) in a semifinal.

            Saturday’s results

            Singles quarterfinals: Marie Bouzkova (CZE) def. [7] Jessica Pegula (USA) [2] 7-5 6-2; Veronica Cepede Royg (PAR) def. Hailey Baptiste (USA) 6-4 6-4

Allie Kiick (USA) def. Kayla Day (USA) 6-2 7-5; Varvara Lepchenko (USA) def. Danielle Lao (USA) 6-2 7-5.

            Singles semifinals: Veronica Cepede Royg (PAR) def. Marie Bouzkova (CZE) [7] 6-3 2-0 Ret.; Varvara Lepchenko (USA) def .Allie Kiick (USA) 6-4 6-2

Doubles semifinals: Anna Danilina (KAZ)/Ingrid Neel (USA) def. Alexa Guarachi (CHI)/Giuliana Olmos (MEX) [1] 3-6 6-3 [10-7]; Caty McNally (USA) / Jessica Pegula (USA) def. Beatrice Gumulya (INA) / Ana Veselinovic (MNE)

Singles finals action, to be televised on The Tennis Channel, begin at 12:30 p.m.