MARBELLA, Spain (AP)—Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania rallied from a set down to beat second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova on Saturday and set up her first tour final against top-seeded Victoria Azarenka at the Andalucian Tennis Experience.
Begu was broken three times in the opening set but recovered to beat Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, with both players struggling to hold serve throughout the match. Begu converted eight of her 22 break points, while losing serve a total of seven times.
Begu entered the tournament as a qualifier and had never won a main draw match on the WTA tour.
The sixth-ranked Azarenka overpowered eighth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 6-2, 6-1 in Saturday’s other semifinal.