Saturday 18 October 2014 14:54, UK
Sixth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will play Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu in the final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Sunday.
Pavlyuchenkova ensured there would be a home player to contest the final as she comprehensively beat qualifier Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in her semi-final.
The Russian was in control throughout, breaking her opponent in each of her four service games in the opening set and then twice more in the second to complete a 6-2 6-2 victory in just 76 minutes.
Begu had a far more taxing passage to the final as she came through a three-set thriller to beat fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova 7-6 (7/5) 1-6 6-3 in two and a half hours.
A tight first set, which saw no breaks of serve despite chances for both players, went to a tie-break which the Romanian edged to get her nose in front.
Safarova came storming back and blitzed her opponent in the second, breaking twice to get back on terms in convincing style.
But the Czech could not maintain that momentum in the decider with Begu claiming the solitary break to progress and the 24-year-old from Bucharest will now look to secure her second WTA title on Sunday.
