TOKYO (AP) — Vera Zvonareva beat Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 7-6 (2), 6-0 on Friday to advance to the final at the Pan Pacific Open.
The fourth-seeded Russian took advantage of a collapse by Kvitova, who held a comfortable 5-1 lead in the first set before Zvonareva stormed back to make it 5-5, breaking her opponent three times. Both players then held serve to force a tiebreak which Zvonareva won.
The second set was all Zvonareva, who broke the fifth-seeded Czech three times to close out the match in 1 hour, 30 minutes.
In Saturday’s final, Zvonareva will face the winner of Friday’s second semifinal between third-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
