Moscow, Russia – Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia will again try for her first WTA singles crown when she meets Estonia's Kaia Kanepi for the Kremlin Cup title on Sunday.
The eighth-seeded Cibulkova reached a final for the second straight week after a 6-0, 6-2 pasting of Russian Elena Vesnina in the first of Saturday's semifinals. Kanepi followed with a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-3 victory over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
Cibulkova lost to Petra Kvitova in last week's Linz title match to fall to 0-3 lifetime in WTA finals. She also lost in finals three years ago in Montreal and Amelia Island.
For Cibulkova, Saturday's match was much different than her quarterfinal win over Russian Vera Zvonareva on Friday. It took Cibulkova nearly three hours to rally from a set down to beat the 2008 Kremlin Cup runner-up on Friday, and she went into Saturday's match against an opponent who did not even have to pick up a racquet on Friday.
Vesnina advanced to the semifinals in walkover fashion after third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France withdrew Friday because of illness. The day off didn't help, as Vesnina struggled with her serve on Saturday. She failed to hold serve once in seven tries and won only 15-of-46 service-game points in the 65-minute match.
Cibulkova snapped a three-match losing streak against Vesnina, and Kanepi ended a similar skid by beating Safarova for the first time in their last five meetings.
It took Kanepi nearly 2 1/2 hours to rally for Saturday's victory. Each player broke serve twice in the first set before Safarova pulled away in the tiebreak, but Kanepi got the only break of serve in the second set and didn't face a break point to even the match.
Both players struggled with their serve again in the third, but Kanepi managed one extra break to capture the match and reach her first final since winning her lone WTA title in July 2010 at Palermo.
Kanepi is 1-2 lifetime in WTA title matches. She lost in 2006 in Hasselt and in 2008 at the Japan Open. Her best previous finish this year was a semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters at the Paris Indoors in February.
En route to that Paris semifinal appearance, Kanepi beat Cibulkova in the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 triumph. Their only other matchup came at Sydney in 2008, another three-set win for Kanepi.
Sunday's winner will earn $118,000.
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