Tennis: Petrova's injury Bartoli's break

It was third time lucky as Marion Bartoli's love affair with Auckland hit new heights yesterday in winning through to her first WTA tour final.

Handed a place in today's ASB Classic showpiece when top seed and Russian world No 7 Nadia Petrova, 23, was forced out with injury in the second of the day's semifinals, Bartoli was overjoyed.

Her win ended any thought of an all-Russian final at the ASB Tennis Centre after eighth seed Vera Zvonareva had earlier wasted no time in seeing off second seed, and world No 17, Daniela Hantuchova.

The Slovakian, stretched in a three-hour quarter-final a day earlier, struggled against the ultra-consistent Zvonareva, losing 2-6, 2-6 in just 68 minutes.

After a 50-minute rain delay, Zvonareva went on to attack. She broke Hantuchova in the first game, and held for 2-0 before Hantuchova got one back on serve.

Three games in a row took the Russian to a 5-2 lead. In just half an hour she sealed it.

The second set followed much the same pattern, with Zvonareva dictating. She trailed 1-2 on serve before reeling off five straight games to close the second set out in 36 minutes.

"I go on court to enjoy myself," said Zvonareva. "I did that. I think I showed some good tennis today."

Most of the crowd then expected Petrova to step on court, show the usual pleasantries and go to work on world No 33 and sixth seed Bartoli.

She tossed in a couple of aces in the second game for 1-1, broke Bartoli in a drawn-out seventh game for a 4-3 lead, repeated the effort to love in the ninth and ended the set at 6-3 in a tick over 40 minutes.

No hint of the drama which was to follow.

Breaking Petrova in the third game and holding in the next, Bartoli took a decisive 3-1 lead which Petrova, reeling off four points without reply, quickly closed.

The tit-for-tat exchanges continued until Bartoli held to love in the 10th game for 6-4 and a set-all.

Petrova took a bathroom break and a change of clothes, was back for a game before again taking a break for treatment after the first game of the third set, in which she dropped serve after leading 40-15.

Bartoli tossed in her only ace en route to hold for 2-0 in the next game, but could do little as the Sovereign singles top seed stormed back to hold to love in the next.

She then walked over to the chair umpire and quit.

"My leg is not too bad," said Petrova in her post-match interview. "But I could not give 100 per cent and I decided to go off court."

Petrova said she had strained her adductor muscle in her left thigh, but hoped it would not be too serious.

"I started to feel it at the end of the second set. The tape did not help."

Petrova, the highest-ranked player to play the Classic, also fired a parting shot or two.

"I felt like I was half-sleepy out there," she said in reference to her 11.30pm finish on Thursday in a much-delayed quarter-final. "I was a little bit lost out there.

"The [line] judging was not in my favour," said Petrova. "There were a lot of overrules.

"I was disappointed to pull out as I have, apart from the wind, enjoyed it here."

There were no such hints from Bartoli, who snapped her run of semifinal losses here to win through.

"It's amazing to be in the final," said the effervescent Bartoli, who takes continual encouragement from her father/coach Walter, courtside. "To beat a top-10 player is amazing.

"When I saw the draw I thought, 'Oh my gosh.'

"It was a battle for every point even in the second set. The crowd helped me."

She will be looking for the same support today as she chases her first Tour title - and a 10th straight win after winning a US$75,000 ITF tournament in Dubai late last year.

In three head-to-head clashes with Zvonareva, who has won and lost three WTA singles finals, Bartoli has yet to win.

On what she has shown in working her way through four matches so far, she might just be ready to break back and give something back to her ever-increasing band of fans.