Kuznetsova To Face Radwanska In San Diego

Svetlana Kuznetsova appears to be playing her way into form as she made her first final of 2010 dropping just four games against Flavia Pennetta in San Diego.

Kuznetsova has seen her ranking, which was as high as world number two, to outside the top twenty as she has been unable to recapture the form that brought her the French Open title twelve months ago.

However Kuznetsova has looked in good form at the mercury Insurance Open in San Diego and has reached the final with an impressive performance over the Italian.

The first six games went with serve before Kuznetsova broke Pannetta in the seventh before reeling off nine  of the next ten to wrap up an impressive 6-4 6-0 victory.

Speaking to the WTA she said:  "I was hitting the ball hard but I was also playing with spin and mixing it up and not letting her dictate. I'm playing better and I'm happy about that.

“I was struggling in the first set but I made my way through it and played much better in the second set. I'm happy to be in my first final this year."

She will face Agnieszka Radwanska, who is seeded fourth in the competition, in the final as she saw off Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets to reach the final.

The pair were locked together at 3-3 as the first six games went with serve but Hantuchova gifted the break to her opponent with an untimely double fault.

After that it was all one way traffic in the second set as Hantuchova got just two games on the board. However she did show off her fighting skills in the seventh game of that set as she fought off seven match points to make Radwanska serve for the set.

And the world number ten did exactly that to wrap up a 6-4 6-2 victory and set up the clash with Kuznetsova.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw