Sunday, October 26, 2008

Ivanovic, Zvonareva reach Generali Ladies final

LINZ, Austria - Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic reached her first final since winning the French Open in June, beating No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 Saturday in the Generali Ladies.

The Serb will play Sunday against second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who routed No. 6-seeded Marion Bartoli of France 6-0, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

It will be Ivanovic’s fourth final this season. She won in Indian Wells but lost to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open.


The fourth-ranked Ivanovic is 3-2 against Zvonareva, who will play her seventh final this season. She has also won two titles this year, in Prague and Guangzhou. Both have won seven tournaments in their careers.

Ivanovic dominated the opening set from the baseline, but dropped serve three times in the second after facing nine break points.

She had four aces in the deciding set.

Zvonareva, who only dropped two games in her last match against Bartoli, improved to 6-1 against the Frenchwoman.

The sixth-seeded Bartoli failed to hold serve in the match. Zvonareva saved five of six breakpoints.

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