Mara, Yaroslava set up final show

Defending champion and top-seed Mara Santangelo’s entered the final of the Sony Ericsson International WTA tour tennis event dismissing Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-1, 6-0 in just under an hour in the first semi-final

Defending champion and top-seed Mara Santangelo’s entered the final of the Sony Ericsson International WTA tour tennis event dismissing Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-1, 6-0 in just under an hour in the first semi-final here on Saturday.

She will now meet unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova on Sunday. The Russian, who ousted local favourite Sania Mirza in the quarter final, overcame a tough challenge from Israel’s Tzipora Obziler to prevail 7-5, 6-2 in the second semi-final.

Savchuk had played some great matches during her inspired run to the last four. She saw off formidable challenges from Mariya Koryttseva, Alicia Molik and Jelena Kostanic, but the tortuous run seemed to have drained her energy and she simply caved in today.

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Italian Santangelo used her height to get right over the ball before dispatching down-the-line or cross-court winners with regularity. Playing her shots as late as possible gave her time

to spot vacant spaces on the court.

Savchuk, on the other hand, appeared clueless against her vastly superior opponent. Apart from just one game, she failed to hold her serve during the match.

The high numbers of double faults did not help her cause.

Santangelo raced away to take the first set 6-1 and the second 6-0, winning 11 games on the trot.