Defending Kremlin Cup champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova battled back from a set down to beat compatriot Daria Kasatkina on Friday to set up an all-Russian final with Svetlana Kuznetsova.
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Pavlyuchenkova and Kuznetsova may be neck and neck in the rankings, but the latter has exactly twice the number of WTA singles titles to her name, at 14, and boasts two Grand Slam triumphs as well.
In the second set, Pavlyuchenkova, who played three three-setters on her way to the final, ran out of gas allowing Kuznetsova to gain a commanding 5-0 lead minutes before she claimed the set and the match.
She nonetheless gave credit to Kuznetsova who, by contrast, was far more efficient on return, breaking serve four times and losing just five points behind her own first serve for the duration of the match. I’m really happy to win this particular title. “I couldn’t jump very well on my left leg, and that affected my serve”. “It seemed everything was going her way”.
Her last tournament win came at the Citi Open in Washington in 2014. Sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova could have booked a ticket to Singapore by winning the Kremlin Cup, but she lost her second-round match Wednesday to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.
Top-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia reached the men’s final with a straightforward 6-3, 6-1 win over Russian wild card entry Evgeny Donskoy.
The big-serving Cilic faced just one break point as he held serve throughout, firing in 10 aces and landing 70 percent of first serves.
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In Sunday’s final, Cilic will face either Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut or Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.
