Bangalore: Mara Santangelo of Italy and Jelena Kostanic of Croatia set up a title clash in the WTA $175,000 Bangalore Open, triumphing over their respective rivals in the semi-finals on Saturday.
It was a smooth passage into the final for third seed Santangelo as her opponent Vania King (USA) chose to withdraw mid-way through the first set, following indisposition.
The 17-year-old unseeded King, the youngest player in the tournament, was trailing 5-0 in the first set of the second semi-final and opted to retire.
However, the 24-year-old Croationa, Kostanic, seeded sixth, after a facile 6-0 victory in the first set had to overcome a stiff challenge by Melinda Czink of Hungary in the second set, which stretched into a tie breaker.
Kostinic won 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) to ensure her berth in the final.
In doubles, enthused by home crowd support, India's Sania Mirza pairing with Liezel Huber (South Africa) notched up a hard fought 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 victory over Mariya Koryttseva (Ukraine) and Shahar Peer (Israel) to sail into the final.
Though Sania-Huber won the first set, warding off the challenge from Koryttseva and Peer, they, however, went down fighting in the second.
For Sania, her partner Huber came good in the third set, which saw them through to the final.
The pair of Sania-Huber will clash with the Russian pair of Anastassia Rodionova and Elena Vesnina, seeded fourth, in the final.
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