Kuznetsova still unbeaten

ByReuters

Published 16/09/2006 at 13:06 GMT

Svetlana Kuznetsova retained her unbeaten record at the Bali International when she overcame defending champion Lindsay Davenport 7-6 7-6. Her opponent in the final will be second seed Swiss Patty Schnyder or sixth seed Marion Bartoli of France, who were playing later on Saturday.

TENNIS 2006 U.S. Open 2R Kuznetsova

Image credit: dpa

Kuznetsova, seeded number one in a Tour event for the first time in her career, is only the second player this year to earn 50 singles victories, behind Justine Henin-Hardenne who has 54. But she had to fight hard to reach her fourth final of the year.

Third seeded Davenport broke at love to lead 4-3 in the opening set, but Kuznetsova immediately broke back with a winning forehand and went on to claim the tiebreak 7-4.

Davenport also claimed the advantage in the second set, breaking with a winning return to lead 4-2. But, serving for the set, she was broken to love at 5-3 and Kuznetsova went on to break again to lead 6-5 when a frustrated Davenport made a forehand error.

WTA Bali