Top 2 Seeds Move Into Title Match at Acapulco

Only two players remain at the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL presented by HSBC, as the semifinals took the court on Friday at the Tier III clay court stop. One of the finalists will be competing for the title for a fifth straight year while one will be competing in her career-first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final, and only one will emerge victorious.
 
The first to reach the final was French teenager Alizé Cornet, who routed American veteran Jill Craybas, 62 62. Many of the games in the match were close, mostly in the 39-minute first set, but in the end Cornet, the No.2 seed this week and playing a Tour semifinal for the very first time, made all the right moves to give herself a shot at her first Tour title.
 
"I'm really happy to get through to my first final," declared Cornet, whose best previous results on the Tour were two quarterfinal finishes, both in 2007, at Fes and right here. "It's pretty hot here, but I love playing on clay courts and I love this tournament. I'm just very happy with my week."
 
Following Cornet into the final was top seed Flavia Pennetta, who stopped No.7 seed Kaia Kanepi, 64 62. Pennetta won a relatively competitive first set but took total control during the second set, taking in five straight games from 1-0 down and closing it out two games later.
 
Pennetta is now 23-4 lifetime in Acapulco, losing in the quarterfinals in her debut appearance in 2003 but now reaching the finals five consecutive years, winning the title in 2005 but finishing runner-up in 2004 (falling to Iveta Benesova), 2006 (to Anna-Lena Groenefeld) and in 2007 (to Emilie Loit). One thing pointing in the Italian's favor to win her second trophy here is that in her only previous meeting with Cornet - here in the quarterfinals last year - she won in straight sets, 75 64.
 
Benesova and Petra Cetkovska will battle Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez in the doubles final, after both teams recorded semifinal wins on Friday. The all-Czech duo of Benesova and Cetkovska took down top seeds Pennetta and Maria Elena Camerin in a match tie-break 36 63 106, while the all-Spanish duo of Llagostera Vives and Martínez Sánchez routed Jorgelina Cravero and Betina Jozami, 61 61.

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