MOSCOW, Oct 24, (Agencies): Francesca Schiavone of Italy and Olga Govortsova of Belarus advanced to the final of the dual ATP and WTA Kremlin Cup with straight-sets victories Saturday. Schiavone, seeded No 8, beat Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-0 to reach her second straight final in as many weeks, while Govortsova ousted Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 6-1 to reach her second career final. On the men’s side, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia advanced to his first final by beating Ukrainian qualifier Illya Marchenko 6-1, 6-4. Tipsarevich, seeded sixth, broke decisively in the seventh game of the second set.

“I tried to change the rhythm and tempo in the match,” Tipsarevich said. “I got a huge boost and confidence in my game once I made the first break.” Tipsarevic will next play Mikhail Youzhny of Russia or Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin. “I have no experience of playing in the final - this is my first one,” Tipsarevic said. “So, I will play it point by point, like any other match.” Schiavone, the only seed left in the women’s tournament, is 1-10 in WTA Tour finals, winning her only title at the Gastein Ladies in 2007. The 24th-ranked Italian lost to Samantha Stosur of Australia in the final in Osaka, Japan, last Sunday.

Schiavone, runner-up here in 2005, broke Bondarenko decisively in the 10th game of the first set and dominated the second set which she won to love to reach her third final this season. “I was more aggressive today,” Schiavone said. “At 5-2 she played too good, very good but then I was pushing and took my chance. I think I played better today.” Schiavone is now 4-2 against Bondarenko, who is ranked No 36 in the world. Bondarenko won her only title by beating the Italian in the final in Luxembourg in 2006. After an exchange of breaks, unheralded Govortsova broke Kleybanova two more times in the first set. The 67th-ranked Belarusian was 4-1 up in the second when Kleybanova called for a doctor to have her right shoulder and back massaged.

At 5-2 and 40-15 down on her serve in the seventh game, Kleybanova saved four match points before Govortsova beat her with a forehand cross on the fifth deuce.
“It was tough struggle in every game, though the score looks so impressive,” Govortsova said. “I’m happy with my play here.”
Govortsova, who is 1-1 against Schiavone, said she would have to play aggressively to beat the Italian.
“Schiavone always plays good here because she plays passively with many slices and drop shots,” Govortsova said.
The 20th edition of the Kremlin Cup has a weakened women’s draw because seven of the world’s top players had qualified for the Doha Championships before the Moscow tournament and opted to skip it.
The seventh-ranked Vera Zvonareva of Russia, defending champion Jelena Jankovic and Agnieszka Radwanska, ranked 10th, were eliminated in the early rounds.

Top-seeded Robin Soderling withdrew from the Stockholm Open semifinals because of an elbow injury, allowing Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus to advance to the final where he will play Olivier Rochus.
The Belgian outlasted Tomaz Bellucci of Brazil 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 to reach Sunday’s final at Royal Tennis Hall.
Soderling has been bothered by a sore right elbow since July, when he withdrew from the quarterfinals in Washington.
A trainer treated him several times during the second set in the quarterfinals Friday against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.
“I felt so much pain when I played in Asia. I had an MRI Tuesday and they told me that I have to rest two, three weeks to get well,” Soderling said.
Soderling is battling for one of the two remaining spots for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London next month.
He has not decided if he’ll play upcoming tournaments in Valencia and Paris.
“I haven’t withdrawn from any tournaments so far,” Soderling said. “I’ll just wait and see and have more medical examinations.”

The 10th-ranked Swede, a surprising finalist in the French Open this year, was the only seeded player left in the tournament.
“I’m sorry for Robin first of all,” Baghdatis said. “It’s not easy to retire, especially when you’re playing at home. But obviously I’m happy to get through to the final.
I need some points and my ranking is not so good right now. I knew it would not have been an easy match for me today. He was the favourite, playing with the home support and indoors. So I’m just happy to get through.”
Baghdatis has played great all week long, not losing a set in his three matches. This is his best ATP Tour result of the year. Ranked 66th, Baghdatis has won two career titles.
He’s looking forward to playing his practice partner on Sunday.
“Rochus is playing great,” Baghdatis said. “He’s a good friend of mine and we’ve warmed up together every day this week. It’s nice to play a friend in the final.”

“I played a good match,” he said. “I stayed positive and didn’t give up, that’s why I won.”
The 87th-ranked Rochus, who also has two career titles, broke Bellucci’s serve twice early in the decisive set to lead 4-0.
But Bellucci fought back. He broke back twice, cutting the score to 5-3, but Rochus then held his serve to close out the match, winning on his third match point.
“In the third set, when I was leading 4-0, he was taking more risks and it was all working for him,” Rochus said. “But then he made a few errors and I played an incredible last game to finish strong. It was a very good match, but tough physically.”
Rochus has had a tough year following shoulder surgery.
“My ranking was down at 120,” he recalled. “To finish near the top 50 is incredible for me. I’ve come back really well, playing a lot of Challengers. To come back from so far down is very pleasing and I hope I can continue playing like this next year.”

In Vienna, with three weeks remaining in the regular ATP season, Croatian Marin Cilic, second-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek and French showman Gael Monfils, the number three, are all off the pace for the eight-man World Tour Final in London from Nov 22.
But the mathematics give decent chances even to the late runners, with a total of 1,750 ranking points in play over the next 21 days through the final of the Paris Masters on Nov 15.
Cilic, winner of two titles and finalist this month in Beijing to Novak Djokovic, stands provisional 12th in the chase for the last two spots in London.
Stepanek, an alternate last year when the year-ender was played in Shanghai, trails on 14th while Metz champion Monfils is 16th.

Andy Roddick clinched the sixth spot at the wrap-event last week as he rests a knee injury, joining Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro in the field.
Next in the qualifying queue is Shanghai Masters champion Nikolay Davydenko, with Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and Swede Robin Soderling on his heels.
Vienna took a box-office blow as the injured and disillusioned Del Potro, who has yet to show even hints of the form which won him the US Open title over Federer, withdrew injured, returning to South America.
Cilic, 13th in the world will begin the first round at the Stadthalle with a qualifier, while Stepanek takes on Pole Lucasz Kubot, finalist last May on clay in Belgrade to Djokovic.

Monfils, one of nine retirement victims in Shanghai last week, will hope his back problems have cleared when he starts with hard-courting Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, beaten in the Stockholm quarter-finals this week by Soderling.
The Frenchman lost the Vienna final a year ago to German Philipp Petzschner, who came out of qualifying rounds to the trophy.
Finn Jarkko Nieminen will play for his last week at the ATP level before being forced to the Challenger circuit, the result of a ranking fall to 120th after his wrist surgery absence this season.
American John Isner takes the eighth seeding with hopes that his big serve can see him through indoors. He faces a first-round match with Serb Janko Tipsarevic.