By RohitSharma (TennisEarth.com), Submitted On
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Eighth seed and former finalist Francesca Schiavone taught Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko a lesson to reach the final of the 2009 Kremlin Cup with a straight sets win.

Schiavone, who lost the previous final here in Moscow to Mary Pierce, looked in killing form as she clinched the opening set 6-4 after several trades of serves. Once the Italian had the grip over the match, she started reeling off one game after another to bagle her young opponent to reach the third final of the year.

"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 has so far 11 finals and 1 title to her credit but Sunday's triumph might change a lot more than just the statistics for the Italian veteran who enjoyed the career high ranking of No.11 three years ago. Compatriot Flavia Pennetta although stole the limelight from her when she recently became the first Italian player to break into the top 10 of the Sony Ericsson WTA Singles rankings, but tomorrow's final may be a platform for Schiavone to prove her mettle.

In the other semifinal, local hopes were dashed when Jelena Jankovic's conquerer, Russian Alisa Kleybanova lost her match to a spirited Belarusian Olga Govortsova.

Kleybanova started the match well and held her serve rather handily. Soon, the Russian had a break point, but from then on, Govortsova started moving her opponent from corner-to-corner, extracting as many errors as possible. After pocketing the opening set 6-2, the Belarusian then clinched an early break and after one hour and 26 minutes of play, registered the 6-2, 6-1 win to secure her place in the first final of the year.