No. 1 seed Elena Dememtieva reached the final of the Paris Indoor Open for the second year running on Saturday when she recovered from a set down to beat 18-year-old American Melanie Oudin 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The Russian will face Lucie Safarova in the final after the Czech also came from a set down to overturn Italian second seed Flavia Pennetta 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Dementieva was given a shock early on when Oudin stole the first set. She bounced back to level at one set all before Oudin, currently ranked 53rd in the world, again hinted at an upset by breaking in the third game of the final set but the Russian responded in commanding fashion to take the match.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In the other semi Pennetta appeared to be heading for the final when she comfortably took the first set but Safarova fought back in the second as both players struggled to hold their service.
Safarova pressured the Italian into a number of unforced errors which led to her taking the set 6-3.
The third set went with serve until Safarova again scented an opening in the ninth game when Pennetta began with a double fault. The Czech upped the pressure and forced the crucial break, before serving out for the match.
■SAP OPEN
REUTERS, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
Top seed Andy Roddick survived a bombardment of aces from compatriot Sam Querrey to take a 2-6, 7-6, 7-6 victory and move into the final of the SAP Open on Saturday.
Roddick will meet Spanish second seed Fernando Verdasco, who overcame 96th-ranked Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
In a hard-fought contest Roddick clawed his way into two tiebreakers where he used his vast experience to pull off the win.
After being overwhelmed in the first set by Querrey, Roddick raced to a 6-3 lead in the second set tiebreaker and eventually won it 7-5.
After withstanding two break points in the second game of the third set, Roddick again elbowed his way into the tiebreaker.
This time Querrey held a 4-3 lead, but made two atrocious errors off the ground, saw Roddick rip a forehand passing shot down the line and then lost the tiebreaker (7-4) and the match when he failed scoop up a Roddick drop volley.
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