Dushevina, Hradecka make Istanbul Cup final

Russian fifth seed Vera Dushevina and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic reached the final of the 220 000-dollar WTA Istanbul tournament on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Russian, ranked 49 in the world, enjoyed a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland.

Dushevina endured a nervy second set when she let slip a 4-0 lead to allow her opponent to close the gap to 5-4, but the experienced Russian held her nerve to clinch the tie.

"After winning the first set I was comfortable, but you shouldn't lose concentration," the Russian said.

Her opponent in Sunday's final is 24-year-old Hradecka, seeded eighth, who defeated German Andrea Petkovic, the winner in Austria last week, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 7-5.

"I'm really happy to have made it to the final but I have a problem in my arm so I made many double faults," said Hradecka, ranked 70 in the world.

"Now I expect to have a very tough final match."