It's an all-Russian final in the men's and women's
events at the Kremlin Cup on Sunday.
Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Fabrice Santoro of France
6-4, 6-1 Saturday and will play either Marat Safin or Igor Kunitsyn,
while Nadia Petrova will play Anna Chakvetadze.
The sixth-ranked Davydenko, the 2004 champion, has not dropped a
set on his way to his sixth final this season and will be chasing
his fourth title this season.
Davydenko won six consecutive games in the second set to close it
out in 69 minutes.
The fifth-seeded Petrova beat eighth-seeded Czech teenager Nicole
Vaidisova 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (3), while Chakvetadze upset fourth-seeded
Elena Dementieva 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 in Saturday's semifinals.
Both players will be looking for back-to-back titles.
Petrova won the Porsche Grand Prix last week in Stuttgart,
Germany, and is seeking her fifth title this season. Chakvetadze won
her first title two weeks ago at the Guangzhou Open in China.
Two-time runner-up Dementieva has levelled the match at 1-1 with
a break in the eighth game.
``I've made too many unforced mistakes while she played the key
points confidently,'' Dementieva said.
The 17-year-old Vaidisova led 2-1 in the second set when Petrova,
whose left hip was bandaged, took a time-out to get her other hip
bandaged.
``It was difficult and very painful,'' Petrova said. ``At some
point I thought I would not be able to finish the match. I really
wanted to be in the final in Moscow for the first time and that goal
has helped me to stay on.''
She resumed and lost three consecutive games to be down 5-1.
Petrova won the next three games, but Vaidisova levelled the match
at 1-1.
Vaidisova saved six match-points on her serve in the ninth game
of the third set. Petrova, who had never made it past the second
round in her six previous appearances in Moscow, saved a breakpoint
before both held serve to force the tiebreaker.
``I had a chance in her game on a breakpoint, but she served well
on crucial points today,'' Vaidisova said.
Vaidisova was 3-5 down and put two backhand returns wide to lose
the match.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
