Kuznetsova first into Dubai final By: Pablo Date: February 29, 2008, 1:25pm
Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced to her second Dubai Tennis Championships final Friday with a gruelling three set victory over Jelena Jankovic.
The second seeded Russian rallied from a set down to beat the No. 4 seeded Serbian 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, in a match lasting just shy of two and three quarter hours.
Kuznetsova is seeking her first title of the season, and reached her second final of the year. She lost to Justine Henin in Sydney, an opponent who has dominated her in Dubai in recent years.
The Belgian beat Kuznetsova in the 2004 Dubai final, and also recorded semifinal wins over the Russian in 2006 and 2007.
Surely Kuznetsova will have enjoyed Franscesca Schiavone's straight set victory over Henin yesterday as much as anyone.
Kuznetsova will face Russian compatriot Elena Dementieva in Saturday's final.
The eighth seeded Dementieva outlasted Schiavone of Italy 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in another match that ran beyond two and a half hours.
Kuznetsova has won all of the last three matches she has played against Dementieva, all those wins coming on a hard court too.
Dementieva hasn't beaten Kuznetsova in almost three years.
Kuznetsova leads 5-3 overall on the head-to-head count.
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