KEY POINTS:
They're both tall, glamorous and pretty good at tennis. They're even doubles partners. But the meeting of the two Elenas in today's ASB Classic final isn't a battle between equals.
The favourite, Elena Dementieva, is playing her 18th WTA final. Her opponent, Elena Vesnina, is playing her first.
Dementieva is the world's fourth-ranked player. Vesnina is just the 13th best in Russia.
There are other differences, too. Dementieva has coasted through the Classic, not dropping a set. She has improved with every outing, dropping just eight games in her last two matches. Her aura of invincibility has grown each time she has stepped on the court.
At times, Vesnina has been brilliant, at others she has been truly flaky. Her biggest weapon is her serve but at crucial times it deserts her. Her biggest enemy is her mental fragility.
Yesterday, in an epic semifinal against Britain's Anne Keothavong, Vesnina twice melted down while serving at 40-0. The first time she was broken, losing her grip on a thrilling third set. On the next occasion she was serving for the match. Four match points went west before she finally won the contest in three minutes short of three hours.
It was the second straight marathon for Vesnina, who needed three sets to get past second seed Caroline Wozniacki on Thursday.
Both victories featured a flukey net cord that went in favour of Vesnina at a crucial stage in the deciding set.
"I should kiss the net," she said.
More divine intervention, it would appear, will be required for Vesnina to trouble Dementieva today. She said she suffered dead legs in losing the first set in a tiebreak to Keothavong but she was confident she would recover fully in time for today's final.
"I think I have some energy left for the final. But [yesterday] was a tough match. In the first set my legs were so heavy and I was like 'what's going on'. I felt so good in the morning in the warmup and then suddenly everything changed."
Those physical struggles allowed Keothavong to storm back and take the first set from 5-3 down but the second was one-way traffic, with Vesnina blowing the Brit off the court 6-1. Keothavong seemed on the verge of imploding, throwing her racquet into the net and haranguing her coach for not appearing supportive enough, but she recovered in time to take the final set right down to the wire.
A net cord at 5-5 handed Vesnina a crucial break and she eventually took the match on serve.
Keothavong, who was also playing for a place in her first final, was crushed by the result.
"Maybe sometimes when you want something so much you try a little bit too hard, it was a bit frustrating,"
she said.
"I guess that's tennis for you, you win some, you lose some."
Dementieva's appearance provided a stark contrast with the struggles of Vesnina and Keothavong.
Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai had been in blistering form in reaching her second successive Classic semifinal but she was no match for the classy Russian.
"It wasn't my day, I played very badly and she played good," Rezai said. It was a fair assessment of a match that lasted 57 minutes, with Dementieva coasting to a 6-2, 6-2 win.
Another straightforward victory for Dementieva would appear to be on the cards today. Vesnina, however, was confident she knew how to trouble the Olympic champion.
"I know that she has a lot of experience in finals and this is my first final but I don't have anything to lose. Elena is a very physically strong player. She can run forever. For me it is going to be very tough because you need to run more, you need to work on the court. She is not going to give you anything. I need to be very consistent and very aggressive."
