World No. 1 Dinara Safina came from behind to win an epic contest with Venus Williams 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday and set up an all-Russian final at the Italian Open.
Safina rallied from a set and 2-0 down to earn the right to face her compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, who barged past Belarussian Victoria Azarenka with a 6-2, 6-4 win.
The pair will meet in a final for the second week running after Kuznetsova beat Safina to capture the Stuttgart Grand Prix last Sunday and end a barren run stretching back to 2007.
PHOTO: AP
Despite the loss, the WTA said Williams would jump from fifth to third in world rankings next week, her highest position since 2003.
Kuznetsova initially found it easy to attack 19-year-old Azarenka’s serve and won the first set at a canter.
Azarenka began the second set by winning the first two games and was unlucky in the third, when Kuznetsova held a tough service game with the help of a bad call on the final point. She protested and the incident seemed to rattle her. Her seventh-seeded opponent took advantage to break back with a fine backhand cross court winner on the way to going 5-2 ahead.
The Belarussian threatened to come back, pulling up to 5-4 before the former US Open champion broke again to clinch the match.
■ESTORIL OPEN
AFP, ESTORIL, PORTUGAL
Surprising James Blake secured his best career showing in European red clay on Friday, riding a second-set surge for a 6-4, 6-1 quarter-final defeat of Florent Serra at the Estoril Open.
The 29-year-old American has never been past the quarters on the surface in Europe, losing twice at that stage in Rome (2002 and last year).
But new-found confidence on the surface propelled him into a showdown set for yesterday with 2003 champion Nikolay Davydenko, who defeated American Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-3.
French top-seeded wild card Gilles Simon was toppled in a marathon lasting a shade less than three hours, going down to Spanish No. 7 Alberto Montanes 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
The Spaniard will play for a place in the final against South American Paul Capdeville, who put out Spain’s Oscar Hernandez 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Simon is trying to rediscover the feeling of last year, which lifted him from No. 33 in the spring to a Top 10 finish at the end of last season. The No. 8 has yet to lift a title this year but hopes to continue gathering his forces for the French Open starting on May 24.
Women were set to contest a low-profile final yesterday as Russian Ekaterina Makarova faced Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.
Makarova beat German Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3, 6-1 while Wickmayer needed just 13 minutes as seventh-seed Shahar Peer quit with a foot injury.
■SERBIA OPEN
REUTERS, BELGRADE
World No. 3 Novak Djokovic beat compatriot Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-2 on Friday to set up a semi-final against Italian Andreas Seppi at the inaugural Serbia Open.
Djokovic dominated the all-Serb clash, which started 40 minutes late because of a floodlight failure, to avenge defeat in his only previous meeting with Troicki in the Croatian resort of Umag in 2007.
“I am delighted a capacity 7,900 crowd turned up for our match and I hope they will come back for the remainder of the tournament,” Djokovic said in a courtside interview.
Fourth-seed Seppi progressed with a 6-4, 7-5 triumph over Marcos Daniel of Brazil.
“Lucky loser” Lukasz Kubot of Poland will meet Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic in the other semi.
Kubot, allowed into the tournament when Belgian Steve Darcis pulled out with a shoulder injury, beat Darcis’s compatriot Kristof Vliegen 7-6, 6-3.
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