Stosur to face Wozniacki in Kremlin Cup final

Top seed Samantha Stosur of Australia battled back from a set down to beat fourth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia on her way to the final of the joint ATP and WTA Kremlin Cup tournament here on Saturday.

Stosur, ranked ninth, won through 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and will next face former world number one and third seed Caroline Wozniacki, who also needed three sets to get past Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4.

Former French Open champion Ivanovic, 24, was in complete command in the opening set playing aggressive tennis to produce three breaks for a 1-0 lead, as 28-year-old Stosur struggled with her serve.

No big serves were produced in the second set before the eighth game when 2011 US Open champion Stosur broke to level at 1-1 after 39 more minutes on court.

In the deciding set Stosur broke again in the fifth game. Ivanovic took a break to receive treatment for a right hip problem but she failed to recover completely allowing Stosur to make another break to enter her season's second final.

“In the first set Ana (Ivanovic) was playing quite well making good first shots in the rally which forced me to play defensively,” Stosur said.

“But in the second set I started serving a lot better and played much more accurate on return. I improved my movement and started playing more offensively and with that I managed to reverse and win the match.” Earlier Arvidsson, playing her eighth career semi-final, got off to a confident start breaking early for a 3-1 lead against Dane Wozniacki.

But Wozniacki, who is currently 11th in the world, broke back twice to take the opening set in 40 minutes.

The opponents traded breaks in the second set and in the tiebreak that ensued 46th-ranked Arvidsson pulled level at one set all after one hour 46 minutes on court.

In the deciding set the rivals were still exchanging breaks but this time Monte Carlo resident Wozhiacki was more accurate winning the set and the match in two hours 33 minutes.

“I was really fighting out there. It's tough on this surface to finish off the point,” said Wozniacki who will play her third final of the season. “I had to step it up to win against her today.

“This surface suits her (Arvidsson) game much more than mine and she could get lots of the balls. Besides, she was playing really good this week.

“It was tough to oppose her as we both know each other very well and know each other's game so well. I'm just happy to make it to the final.”

AFP