Janko Tipsarevic was set to play Mikhail Youzhny and Francesca Schiavone was to meet Olga Govortsova in the final of the Kremlin Cup after all four players posted straight-set victories on Saturday.
Tipsarevic of Serbia advanced to his first final by beating Ukrainian qualifier Illya Marchenko 6-1, 6-4, while Youzhny of Russia beat Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 6-1.
Schiavone of Italy defeated Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-0 to reach her second straight final in as many weeks. Govortsova of Belarus ousted Alisa Kleybanova of Russia 6-2, 6-1 to reach her second career final.
PHOTO: AFP
Tipsarevich broke decisively in the seventh game of the second set.
Youzhny, the 2004 runner-up, dominated after an exchange of breaks early in the first set.
Schiavone is 1-10 in WTA Tour finals, winning at the Gastein Ladies in 2007. The 24th-ranked Italian lost to Samantha Stosur last week in the final at Osaka, Japan.
Schiavone, the 2005 runner-up, broke Bondarenko decisively in the 10th game of the first set and dominated the second set to reach her third final this season.
Schiavone is now 4-2 against Bondarenko, who won her only title by beating the Italian in the Luxembourg final in 2006.
After an exchange of breaks, unheralded Govortsova broke Kleybanova two more times in the first set. The 67th-ranked Belarusian was 4-1 up in the second when Kleybanova called for a doctor to have her right shoulder and back massaged.
Govortsova, who is 1-1 against Schiavone, said she would have to play aggressively to beat the Italian.
The 20th edition of the Kremlin Cup has a weakened women’s draw because seven of the world’s top players had qualified for the Doha Championships before the Moscow tournament and opted to skip it.
■STOCKHOLM OPEN
AP, STOCKHOLM
Top-seeded Robin Soderling withdrew from the Stockholm Open semi-finals on Saturday because of an elbow injury, allowing Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus to advance to the final where he was to play Olivier Rochus.
The Belgian outlasted Tomaz Bellucci of Brazil 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 to reach yesterday’s final at Royal Tennis Hall.
Soderling has been bothered by a sore right elbow since July, when he withdrew from the quarter-finals in Washington.
A trainer treated him several times during the second set in the quarter-finals on Friday against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.
Soderling is battling for one of the two remaining spots for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London next month.
Baghdatis has played great all week, not losing a set in his three matches. This is his best ATP Tour result of the year. Ranked 66th, Baghdatis has two career titles.
He was looking forward to playing his practice partner yesterday.
The 87th-ranked Rochus, who also has two career titles, broke Bellucci’s serve twice early in the decisive set to lead 4-0.
But Bellucci fought back. He broke back twice, cutting the score to 5-3, but Rochus then held his serve to close out the match, winning on his third match point.
■LUXEMBOURG OPEN
AP, LUXEMBOURG
Germany’s Sabine Lisicki came back to defeat Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5) to advance to the Luxembourg Open final against Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky on Saturday.
Unseeded Bacsinszky upset fifth-seed Yanina Wickmayer 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the earlier semi-final, ending the Belgian’s eight-match winning streak. Bacsinszky lost to Wickmayer last week in Linz, Austria.
This time, the Swiss player rallied from a set down and blew a 4-1 lead in the third set, but held on. Bacsinszky will play for her first title.
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