Kuznetsova to meet Weingartner in Wismilak International final

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Nusa Dua, Bali

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia is in position to win her second Wismilak International tennis tournament less than two weeks after her U.S. Open triumph, when she takes on Marlene Weingartner of Germany in the final of the US$225,000 tournament here on Sunday.

Second seed Kuznetsova, who beat Conchita Martinez in the 2002 final, advanced to this year's final after defeating compatriot Nadia Petrova 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals on Saturday.

Weingartner stopped Italian Maria Elena Camerin's run with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in the other semifinal match.

Weingartner lost to Kuznetsova in their only previous encounter in Moscow last year, and the 24-year-old German said she was looking forward to squaring the score.

However, she will be up against a player who is on a roll after defeating compatriot Elena Dementieva to win the U.S. Open trophy. Dementieva was the 2003 Wismilak champion but opted out of this year's tournament.

On Saturday, Kuznetsova proved her mettle again against sixth seed Petrova.

Petrova got off to a quick start in the first set, expertly placing the ball in the corners and sending Kuznetsova scampering around the court in an effort to find a return.

In the second set, Petrova was unable to maintain the same quality of play she showed in the opening set.

She lost her focus and her energy seemed to drain away. Petrova hit a string of unforced errors and Kuznetsova had little trouble taking the final two sets to win the match.

Kuznetsova said she felt extremely tired during the match, but tried to ignore her fatigue and focus on winning the match.

"I knew that Nadia was tired and I felt tired too, but I wanted to win the game so I tried to play one ball at a time. I was concentrating to get more points out of her," Kuznetsova said during the postmatch press conference.

"She served very well during the first game but in the second game she didn't do very well and made many mistakes," she said.

Kuznetsova said she was not at her best because she had had little rest after winning U.S. Open last week.

"So far this is the longest winning streak of my career. In the U.S. Open I won seven matches, and I have won three more matches here. So I can say I have won 10 matches in a row," she said.

Kuznetsova also has chance to make it a double victory in Bali, after reaching the doubles final with partner Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain.

The duo defeated the Italian-Australian pairing of Tathiana Garbin and Nicole Pratt 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday. They will face Anastasia Myskina of Russia and Ai Sugiyama of Japan in the final on Sunday.

Petrova said she was surprised that Kuznetsova was able to play so well despite her hectic schedule since winning the U.S. Open.

"I realize that I did not do well in the second and third games, maybe because I did not have a proper lunch this afternoon before playing. But (my defeat) was because Svetlana played very well," Petrova said.

"She hit the ball from the baseline from any angle, so they were really difficult shots to return," she said.

Later on Saturday, Camerin, who dumped world No. 2 and French Open champion Anastasia Myskina en route to the semifinals, finally ran out of gas against the lower ranked Weingartner.

Camerin is ranked 61st in the world while Weingartner is ranked 67th.

"It's my first time to make it to the finals and I did it very nicely. Physically, I felt fitter than her (Camerin) and I also feel that I has been playing better during the last week," Weingartner said.