MOSCOW, 15 October 2006 — Russia’s Nadia Petrova overcame a groin injury to reach her first Kremlin Cup final with a 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 win over Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova yesterday.

In today’s final the world No. 5, who is gunning for her sixth title of the year, will face unseeded Anna Chakvetadze, who upset fourth seed Elena Dementieva 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 in the all-Russian second semifinal.

The men’s final will also be an all-Russian affair, pitting top seed Nikolay Davydenko against his Davis Cup team mate Marat Safin.

Davydenko, who won here in 2004, eliminated seventh-seeded Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-1 to move a step closer to securing a place in next month’s season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Former world No. 1 Safin overpowered Russian wild card Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-3 in one hour 15 minutes.

Petrova, who has been playing with a heavily-strapped left thigh for the entire week, raced through her first set in 36 minutes but asked for a medical time-out to treat her right leg early in the second.

The injury hampered the fifth seed’s mobility as the 17-year-old Vaidisova, who beat top seed and world number one Amelie Mauresmo in Friday’s quarterfinals, regained her composure to level the match.

Blake to Play Nieminen

in Stockholm Final

Defending champion James Blake did just enough to beat Swede Robin Soderling 7-5, 7-6 yesterday to reach the Stockholm Open final.

In today’s final, the American world No. 8 will play Finnish fifth seed Jarkko Nieminen, who defeated giant server Joachim Johansson, another Swede, in an epic three-set battle.

“It’s going to be tough. I’ve played Jarkko three times and every time it’s been really close,” said Blake, who has won all his meetings with the Finn, the latest one coming last month in the Bangkok quarterfinals where the American went on to win the tournament.

Blake, the second seed, broke Soderling in the second set tiebreak for a 3-2 lead with an exquisite backhand down the line and then held his serve to clinch the match 7-4.

Teenager King Reaches

First Tournament Final

In Bangkok, teenager Vania King reached the first tournament final of her professional career yesterday by defeating sixth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy 6-1, 6-4 in an all-American semi-final at the Bangkok Open.

The unseeded 17-year-old, who turned professional in July, used a combination of powerful serves and stinging returns from the baseline to fend off the challenge of Shaughnessy and set up a match with Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn. Tanasugarn defeated France’s Severine Bremond 6-2, 6-3. King conceded just 15 games in her route to the final, winning all her matches in straight sets.

She dominated the first set but allowed the hard-hitting Shaughnessy to take a two-game lead in the second before pulling back to 3-3 and breaking away to take the match.

Tamarine reached her first final for over three years by beating a determined Bremond in the other semifinal.