Kuznetsova beats Davenport to reach Bali final

DENPASAR, Indonesia, Sep 16 (Reuters) Svetlana Kuznetsova retained her unbeaten record at the Bali International when she overcame defending champion Lindsay Davenport 7-6 7-6.

Her opponent in the final will be second seed Swiss Patty Schnyder or sixth seed Marion Bartoli of France, who were playing later today.

Kuznetsova, seeded number one in a Tour event for the first time in her career, is only the second player this year to earn 50 singles victories, behind Justine Henin-Hardenne who has 54.

But she had to fight hard to reach her fourth final of the year.

Third seeded Davenport broke at love to lead 4-3 in the opening set, but Kuznetsova immediately broke back with a winning forehand and went on to claim the tiebreak 7-4.

Davenport also claimed the advantage in the second set, breaking with a winning return to lead 4-2. But, serving for the set, she was broken to love at 5-3 and Kuznetsova went on to break again to lead 6-5 when a frustrated Davenport made a forehand error.

But it was Kuznetsova's turn to surrender her lead and Davenport broke to take the match to a second tiebreak, losing it 7-5.

REUTERS DH BST1845