Top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova battled into the semi-finals of the Kremlin Cup on Thursday with a hard-fought win over tearful ninth seed Timea Babos of Hungary to boost her hopes of making the WTA Finals.
The two-time grand slam title winner, ranked ninth in the world, won her first ever meeting with Babos 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2.
Kuznetsova took the opening set in 50 minutes and was serving for the match in the second but Babos survived by winning the tiebreak that followed to level at 1-1 after one hour 47 minutes on court.
Kuznetsova has almost done enough to secure qualification for the end of season finale. Photo: AFP
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A left thigh injury forced Babos to take a medical break halfway into the deciding set and in the last game she collapsed in tears.
“It was really good for me that we had to play the third set. I finally relaxed and began to play my normal tennis,” Kuznetsova said.
