Tennis
Petrova stops Stosur to reach Eastbourne final
By DPA
Jun 20, 2008, 16:30 GMT

Eastbourne, England - Nadia Petrova made up for semi-final disappointment a year ago at the Eastbourne Championships as she defeated Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-3 on Friday to reach her first grass- court final.

The Russian eighth seed needed one hour, 20 minutes to get the job done against the Australian, who missed more than six months with illness into the spring.

Petrova had to quit a 2007 semi-final at Devonshire Park with a thigh injury against Amelie Mauresmo.

Petrova, winner of seven WTA titles from 15 career finals, will play on Saturday for the trophy against either French second seed Marion Bartoli or Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded fourth.

The Russian, whose compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova won the pre-Wimbledon title in 2004, is sure to break a run of Belgian domination at the event whose last three editions wer won by Justine Henin (2006, 2007) and Kim Clijsters (2005).

'I finally have a great chance to win a title on grass,' said Petrova. 'It's really looking good for me now, I'd love to get a victory on grass.'

Petrova now stands 3-0 over Stosur, who said that a pair of short interruptions for light rain may have interrupted her concentration at the wrong moment.

'I got a bit passive when we came back and that didn't help,' said the Australian who stands 157th. 'It came down to could serve the best.

'If you can't return unbelievably well then you won't have a chance. I'm happy to have gotten to a semi-final, but sorry it couldn't go farther.'

Petrova broke twice in the first set and recovered from deficits on two occasions in the second before wrapping up victory on her fifth ace at Stosur's body.

'It was a boom-boom finish,' said the winner, now 12-11 this season. 'I'm happy we had new balls and very happy to be in a grass court final.'