Petrova, seeded No. 4, never got back into the match, and lost the final with little resistance.
Kuznetsova will meet either Italian Maria Elena Camerin or the world's 67th ranked Marlene Weingartner of Germany in today's final.
Open Romania
Second-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany downed 2002 champion David Ferrer of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Open Romania on Friday.
It'll be the second career semifinals for Mayer, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist, who faces No. 4 Igor Andreev of Russia on today.
Andreev defeated Felix Mantilla of Spain 6-4, 6-2, and has yet to drop a set in the US$460,000 tournament.
Local fans were disappointed after the only Romanian left in the tournament, Victor Hanescu, was ousted 6-3, 6-1 by seventh-seeded Filippo Volandri of Italy.
"My first two games of the tournament were with left-handed players, and today I was caught off guard by some of Volandri's hits," Hanescu said.
Volandri won his first career title in St. Poelten this year, and has a berth in his third semifinals of 2004 against Jose Acasuso of Argentina.
Acasuso beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 7-6 (2) and improved his record against the Frenchman to 4-0.
In the doubles final, second-seeded Lucas Arnold and Mariano Hood of Argentina will meet Acasuso and Oscar Hernandez of Spain.
RSS