Svetlana Kuznetsova mounts comeback against Nicole Vaidisova for spot in Roland Garros Final

Nicole Vaidisova served for the match in the second set, but Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova mounted a thrilling 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-2 comeback to win a spot in tomorrow’s Roland Garros ladies final.

Vaidisova had been the hottest player during the past two weeks at Roland Garros, entering the tournament as the sixteenth seed, and going on to post wins over world number one Amelie Mauresmo and Venus Williams. She played extremely well today in her semifinal against eighth seeded Kuznetsova, but when it mattered the most, the experienced Kuznetsova hung on to gain a spot in her second Grand Slam singles final.

Today’s match started with both women playing aggressively and trying to go for outright winners on the clay courts of the French Open. Vaidisova and Kuznetsova fought to hold their first couple of service games, but the first break went to Kuznetsova at 4-3 in the opening set. Vaidisova stormed back to recover not only the break and level the match at 5-all, but she went on to win the first set 7-5.

Kuznetsova was able to successfully turn things around in the second set against her young opponent. After cleaning up her game, especially her serve, she managed to break Vaidisova when she was serving for the match at 5-4, and came back to take the second set in a tiebreak 7-6 (5).

After winning the tiebreak, Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, recovered her confidence and easily held to take the third and deciding set in a little over 30 minutes 6-2.

Svetlana Kuznetsova will face the winner of the second semifinal between Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne in the Roland Garros final on Saturday.

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