Petrova to play Golovin in Stuttgart final

STUTTGART, Oct 7 (Reuters) Nadia Petrova will play French teenager Tatiana Golovin in the final of the Stuttgart Grand Prix tomorrow.

Fourth-seeded Petrova edged past fellow Russian and number two seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 1-6 6-4 in today's semi-finals while Golovin upset fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder 6-1 5-7 7-5.

Petrova made a perfect start to a high-quality battle that remained in the balance until the final point, breaking her opponent to love in the opening game.

Using her strong serve and powerful groundstrokes to the full, Petrova broke again to lead 4-1 when Kuznetsova double-faulted and then netted a forehand.

The balance shifted in the second set as Kuznetsova ran well and her aggressive rallying forced Petrova into errors.

Kuznetsova was rewarded when a backhand half-volley from Petrova landed fractionally long to give her a break for 3-1 and she went on to claim the next three games and the set.

The deciding set lasted more than an hour, with Petrova breaking for 3-1, immediately dropping her own serve and then failing to win any of three break points to lead 4-2.

Instead, she had to wait until the 10th game to break again, in fortunate circumstances. The umpire corrected a call that would have given Kuznetsova the game at 5-4, and Petrova went on to break and claim victory when Kuznetsova netted a forehand.

Golovin collected her fourth win over top-10 opposition this year. She dominated the opening set against the surprisingly inept Swiss left-hander. Schnyder rarely put the ball away when she had the opportunity and lacked power against an aggressive opponent who struck her forehand with passion and covered the net well.

Golovin took the set after building up a 4-0 lead but then struggled to maintain her momentum. Schnyder finally began to compete, maintaining the rallies and using more spin to take the pace off the ball.

Schnyder broke to lead the second set 3-2 when Golovin made a forehand error. She failed to serve out the set at 5-4 but then broke again with a winning forehand and held off a break point at 6-5 to take the set.

The deciding set was evenly balanced, with Schnyder breaking with a dropshot to lead 3-2 but then immediately dropping her own serve to love.

Golovin broke at 6-5 when Schnyder netted a weak double-handed backhand.

Reuters PDS GC2235