PATTAYA CITY, Thailand - Russia's Vera Zvonareva continued her sizzling start to the year by reaching the final of the PTT Pattaya Open on Saturday, and next up for the world No.5 will be someone else who has started the season off well, Indian sensation and recent Top 30 player Sania Mirza.
Zvonareva, the top seed at the International event, came out of the blocks firing and never really let her foot off the gas in her 61 64 win over Shahar Peer, the seventh seed. Zvonareva won the opening set in just 25 minutes, and while Peer did hang tough in the second set - never falling more than two games behind, and losing serve only once - the Russian never seemed to be in trouble, improving to 5-0 lifetime against the tenacious Israeli.
"I think it was a good match for me. I lifted my level of play compared to my previous matches here," Zvonareva said. "I'm very happy the way I performed, especially playing a very clean first set. In the second set I made a few unforced errors, but was able to come up with good shots when I really needed them.
"I don't think I played my best match today, neither did she probably. Tennis players in general play maybe only a few 'best matches' every year."
"I didn't start well and I played too defensively," Peer said. "In the second set I did better and had chances to come back. In matches of this level, you only have a few chances, and I didn't take them. She did. I have to learn from this match."
The unseeded Mirza defeated eighth seed Magdalena Rybarikova, conqueror of second seed Caroline Wozniacki. Mirza built a 64 53 lead and led 30-15 while trying to serve it out there, but Rybarikova rallied back to take that second set, before the two both held serve to open the third set even, 1-1. Mirza's big ground game caught fire from there though, as the Indian trailblazer reeled off five games in a row to complete the hard-earned semifinal victory, 64 57 61.
"I'm happy I stayed strong and focused in the third set," Mirza said. "She played well - she is a different type of player. Obviously, she has powerful serves, and it is very easy to lose your rhythm when playing against her."
"I'm a little bit tired," Rybarikova said. "But my opponent played very well today. I had some good forehands and backhands, but I wasn't playing as aggressively as Sania did today. She also served very well. She's playing very well right now."
Mirza missed over half of 2008 because of a right wrist injury, and recently she became India's third - and first female - Grand Slam champion, with a win in the Australian Open mixed doubles partnering her mentor, Mahesh Bhupathi.
"This is my second tournament this year after six months of injury last year," Mirza added. "I couldn't really ask for a better start by winning the mixed doubles in the Australian Open and making it to the final here in Pattaya City."
While Zvonareva will be the heavy favorite on paper in Sunday's final, Mirza has a few aces in the hole. She has three Top 10 wins in her career - over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis - and she has won a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title before (in fact she is the first and so far only Indian woman to win a Tour title of any kind - click here for more). She did also win the pair's only previous meeting, although it was a few years ago (click here for more).
"I'm not really thinking about finals, semifinals, quarterfinals - I'm concentrating on every match, and taking little steps forward each time," Zvonareva said. "I'm just trying to perform a little bit better in every match and I think that helps.
"Sania is a great player. She has definitely improved. It will be a tough match. I'm going to try my best. We will see how it goes tomorrow."
In the only doubles match of the day, Yaroslava Shvedova and Tamarine Tanasugarn beat Mirza and Mara Santangelo in a match tie-break, 26 62 107. They will face Yuliya Beygelzimer and Vitalia Diatchenko in Sunday's final.
