Patty Schnyder defeated third seed Marion Bartoli of France 7-6, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the final of the Linz Open.
It will be Schnyder's second final of the year after San Diego and she will be seeking the 11th title of her career against second-seeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, who saved a matchpoint before edging past fifth-seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova 2-6, 6-2, 7-6.
Schnyder's ability to mix up her shots gave the Swiss left-hander a slight advantage over the harder-hitting Bartoli but she had difficulty maintaining her leads in the first set.
She broke to lead 2-0 but Bartoli hit two good passing shots and the sixth-seeded Schnyder netted a backhand to bring games back on serve in the fifth game. Although Schnyder immediately broke again to lead 4-2, Bartoli once more recovered the break.
Schnyder's ability to produce the unexpected earned her the only break in the tiebreak when a dropshot gave her a 2-1 lead and she closed out the set with a forehand winner.
Bartoli, who had her left thigh heavily strapped because of a hamstring injury, looked weary when the second set got underway and she barely competed as Schnyder rushed to a 4-0 lead for the loss of only four points.
BACKHAND ERROR
Bartoli looked so distressed that it appeared she might retire at any moment but instead she slowly began to work her way back into the match.
From 5-1 she rallied strongly once more, fighting off three matchpoints on her own serve at 5-1 and breaking Schnyder in the next game.
Schnyder, though, maintained her composure and claimed victory by breaking Bartoli in the next game, forcing a backhand error.
"It took a lot out of me as well, that first set," Schnyder told reporters. "The tiebreak was great rallies from both of us but somehow I could just go on and on and she dropped a bit and gave me some easy mistakes which helped.
"I don't know how she could play that well again at 5-1 down. She was hitting twice as fast again and making winners and I was struggling to get the balls back. It was a great effort from her to come back and raise her game again."
Neither Hantuchova nor Vaidisova played well at the same time in the opening two sets, with Hantuchova failing to hold serve at all as the Czech took the first set but then playing a more attacking game to unsettle Vaidisova in the second.
In the final set Vaidisova broke for 2-0 but Hantuchova broke back in the seventh game. The Slovak held off a matchpoint at 6-5 with a service winner, before taking the tiebreak 7-3.
"It's a fantastic win," said Hantuchova. "I actually didn't know what the score was during the third set because I was just trying to focus on every point. The first set was her, then me. I guess we were just trying to go for too much, then in the third it was close and we both kept fighting."
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