PATTAYA : Sabine Lisicki will face Maria Kirilenko in today's final of the Pattaya Open after both players recorded straight-sets wins in yesterday's semi-finals.
Left: Sabine Lisicki of Germany; right: Russia’s Maria Kirilenko in action yesterday.
Fifth-seeded Lisicki beat Russia's Nina Bratchikova 7-5, 6-3, while second-seeded Kirilenko blitzed Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-2.
Lisicki was tested by Bratchikova _ the German took a 4-3 lead in the first set but Bratchikova fought back to level at 5-5.
Lisicki, though, broke again to lead 6-5 and then served out the first set.
In the second set, Lisicki broke early to take a 2-1 lead before breaking Bratchikova again in the ninth game to seal the win and go through to the final.
"It was up and down at the beginning of the match," Lisicki said.
"I could not find the rhythm in the first set. I managed to get it in the second set but I was lucky a couple of times to hold my serve."
The second semi-final pitted Kirilenko against Cirstea in a rematch of last year's semi-final, which Kirilenko won in three sets.
There was no such resistance from Cirstea yesterday, though, and the Russian world No.15 raced through the first set without conceding a single game.
Kirilenko's dominance continued in the second set and she fired down an ace to close it out 6-2 and secure her place in today's final.
"It was not an easy match for me," Kirilenko said.
"I won the first set easy but in the second set she came back well. I was lucky to get some break points and won the set."
In the doubles, Thai sisters Varatchaya and Varunya Wongteanchai lost the semi-final to Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova and Russia's Alexandra Panova 6-3, 6-2.
After the match, Varatchaya paid tribute to her victorious opponents.
"Their serves were very powerful and very strong," she said. "They played very well today.
"We played without any pressure but they were too good at the net and with their aggressive groundstrokes.
"We are happy to have reached the semi-finals and hope to reach the final next year and win the title."
Today's final will be played at 4pm. Tickets are available at the Dusit Thani hotel, starting at 300 baht.
RESULTS
Singles: 5-Sabine Lisicki (GER) bt Nina Bratchikova (RUS) 7-5, 6-3; 2-Maria Kirilenko (RUS) bt 4-Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 6-0, 6-2Doubles: Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)/Alexandra Panova (RUS) bt Varatchaya/Varunya Wongteanchai (THA) 6-3, 6-2
TODAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Singles final (starts at 4pm)
Sabine Lisicki (GER) vs Maria Kirilenko (RUS)
Doubles final
Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)/Alexandra Panova (RUS) vs Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN)/Casey Dellacqua (AUS) or Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/Shahar Peer (ISR)