MOSCOW, October 19 (R-Sport) – Samantha Stosur held off a late rally by Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova to advance to the Kremlin Cup final in Moscow on Saturday with a straight-sets win.
In a battle between two former US Open champions both struggled to hold serve, but the Australian coped better at crucial moments on her way to a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
"It's been a great couple of weeks so hopefully I can keep it rolling for one more match here," said Stosur, who won the Japan Open in Osaka last week, adding that she had struggled at times against Kuznetsova, her doubles partner.
"It was still pretty tight all the way through with who was going to hold and we know each other's games pretty well so I guess you've got to take your opportunities when you get them. Towards the end there I maybe let her back in."
Seeking a first WTA Tour final in her native Russia, eighth seed Kuznetsova seemed to struggle under pressure and failed to hold a single service game in the first set, but pushed Stosur hard with a second-set comeback.
Stosur, seeded seventh, was often under heavy pressure from Kuznetsova but dug deep to deny the Russian many opportunities.
Kuznetsova produced a late flurry to stop Stosur closing out the match at 5-1 up and then won the next two games. But errors crept back in as she sought to level the set at 5-5, and Kuznetsova handed Stosur two match points with a smash into the net and then fired a wild shot wide to give the Australian the victory.
Stosur, who lost to Caroline Wozniacki in last year's Moscow final, now goes on to face either fifth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep or Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the Kremlin Cup title Sunday.
Stosur and Kuznetsova will team up later Saturday to contest a doubles semifinal against Czech player Klara Zakopalova and Slovakia's Janette Husarova.
The Kremlin Cup is a hard-court ATP 250 and WTA Premier tournament with a prize fund of $795,000 for the women's competition.
