Hantuchova beats Cirstea top reach Bali final

BALI, Sep 15 (Reuters) Daniela Hantuchova ended the run of Romanian qualifier Sorana Cirstea to reach the final of the Bali Classic today.

The second-seeded Slovak won 7-5 6-1 and will face American Lindsay Davenport or Italy's Sara Errani in tomorrow's final.

Hantuchova struggled to gain an advantage over Cirstea, who rallied well and was the more consistent player during much of the first set.

Although she had plenty of chances, Hantuchova was wasteful and succumbed to sometimes spectacular errors. She needed five break points to lead 3-2, but then promptly dropped her own serve with a series of wild errors.

At 5-5 she needed another four break points before Cirstea made a forehand error to leave Hantuchova serving for the set.

Cirstea's resistance crumbled after Hantuchova converted a fifth break point to lead 1-0 in the second set, and a more aggressive performance allowed the Slovak to dominate the remainder of the set.

Cirstea did offer some late resistance, breaking as Hantuchova served for the match, but she then dropped her own serve to love.

She failed to hold serve at all in the set.

REUTERS TB BST1635