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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 7:00 a.m., Saturday, February 14, 2009

Tennis: Zvonareva, Mirza reach Pattaya Open final

Associated Press

PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) — Top-seeded Vera Zvonareva needed just over an hour today to advance to the final of the Pattaya Open, where she will face unseeded Sania Mirza.

Zvonareva, a semifinalist at the Australian Open last month, raced through her semifinal against seventh-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel to win 6-1, 6-4 in just 61 minutes.

Mirza of India overcame a blown opportunity for a straight-sets victory to beat eighth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in her semifinal.

"I missed a couple of easy points and lost the second set. It happened," said Mirza, who was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set but faltered.

Rybarikova fired shots to Mirza's weak backhand and won the set when the Indian returned a backhand long.

Ranked as high as 27th, Mirza fell to No. 126 as she works her way back from long-term wrist injuries last year. This is her first tip to a singles final since Stanford in 2007. Her only WTA-level singles title came in 2005. She won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi.

"I'm not going to think about who I'm playing" in the final, Mirza said. "I just want to play my game."