Italian Francesca Schiavone and Belorussian Olga Govortsova will play in the final of the $1,000,000 Kremlin Cup, the tournament which had quickly fallen short of most of the top players.

Eighth-seeded Schiavone, the highest seed to reach the quarterfinals, beat Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-4 6-0 to advance to the final.

In the other semifinal, unseeded Govortsova defeated Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-1, the Russian who had upset second seed Jelena Jankovic in the quarters. Kleybanova committed 39 unforced errors, nearly twice as many as Govortsova.

World No.24 Schiavone has lost nine out of 10 career finals, including the one in Moscow in 2005, while 67th-ranked Govortsova is yet to win her maiden WTA title, playing her second WTA final.

Immediately after qualifying for the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Jelena Jankovic crashed out of the Kremlin Cup, losing to Alisa Kleybanova 6-4 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova was dumped out by unseeded Shahar Peer in the other tournament of the week, played in Luxembourg.

Second seed Jankovic, who failed to defend her Kremlin Cup title, said she wasn’t saving herself for Doha which starts October 27, rather, she simply couldn’t cope with Kleybanova at the time.

Russian Kleybanova will take on Olga Govortsova in the semifinals.

At the BGL Luxembourg Open, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova lost her quarterfinal match against Shahar Peer of Israel in straight sets, 6-2 7-6(4).  Peer’s next opponent will be sixth seed Sabine Lisicki. In the quarters, the German defeated Patty Schnyder, who had taken out the 2009 US Open champion and five-time titlist in Luxembourg Kim Clijsters in the previous round. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Vera Zvonareva lost to Tsvetana Pironkova 6-0 6-2 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup, which automatically qualified Jelana Jankovic for the Sony Ericsson Championships.

Jankovic is now five points ahead of Zvonareva in the race to the Sony Ericsson Championships and will be among the elite eight players of the season competing in the singles competition in Doha. The Serb has joined Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka.

Russian Zvonareva, top seed at the Kremlin Cup, lost to Bulgarian qualifier Pironkova who secured only her fourth win on tour this season and her first since April. Still, Zvonareva is not disappointed about the outcome: "Maybe I'm even happy. Finally I will have time to restore my health and start the new season in full strength."

Defending Kremlin Cup champion Jankovic, who has now qualified for the season-ending Championships for the third time in her career, followed up her guaranteed qualification by beating Lucie Safarova 7-6(5) 6-3 in the second round in Moscow.

Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska will be alternates for the Sony Ericsson Championships. They both had their chance to earn that last Doha berth at the Kremlin Cup, but Jankovic prevailed. (source: BBC, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World No.10 Agnieszka Radwanska lost her chance to take the final qualifying spot for the prestigious Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, losing to 61st-ranked Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-3 in the first round of the Kremlin Cup.

Radwanska’s defeat means that Jelena Jankovic and Vera Zvonareva will fight it out for the eighth spot at the season-ending Championships. Still, Radwanska will be an alternate for Doha, along with the loser of the qualifying battle between Jankovic and Zvonareva.

World No.12 Flavia Pennetta had a shot at being an alternate at the Sony Ericsson Championships, but she retired from her first-round match at the Kremlin Cup and her chance has thus been removed. The Italian won the opening set against Agnes Szavay 6-4, but after losing the first three games of the following set she retired with a left knee injury. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic moved into the second round of the Kremlin Cup by beating Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4 5-7 6-1. Kim Clijsters also won her opening-round match on Tuesday, defeating Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2 6-2 at the BGL Luxembourg Open.

Shvedova had upset Jankovic in the second round of the US Open in September, but the Serb avenged the defeat by winning five successive games in the third set to defeat the Kazakh in Moscow. Jankovic’s next opponent will be Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

At the BGL Luxembourg Open, the other tournament played this week, second seed Kim Clijsters won her eighth straight singles match and the first one since capturing the 2009 US Open title. It’s worth noting that the Belgian is a five-time champion of the Luxembourg tournament.

Reminder: At the Kremlin Cup, the second-seeded Jankovic is competing with Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska for the remaining spot in Doha. (photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

World No.59 Anna Chakvetadze is expected to skip all the tournaments in the next four to six weeks due to a stress fracture in her right foot.

The 22-year-old Russian said:

The doctors gave me this boot that I have to use for the next three or four weeks. I must admit having them on is like weird and funny. I feel like I’m a pirate.

Chakvetadze may play the October 19 – 25 Kremlin Cup in her home Moscow. (source: Women Who Serve, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

I hope Jelena Jankovic finally proved to be worthy of occupying the No.1 spot in the rankings by winning her third title in 15 days (after China Open and Stuttgart). The top-seeded Serb prevented Russian Vera Zvonareva from scoring victory in a Tier I final for the first time.

Both players were competing in their sixth final of the year, but Jankovic was more successful, defeating the seventh-seeded Muscovite 6-2 6-4 and taking home her fourth title of the 2008 season.

On her way to the Kremlin Cup trophy and $196,900 in Moscow, the 23-year-old Jankovic defeated Vera Dushevina, Flavia Pennetta, third seed Elena Dementieva, and eventually Vera Zvonareva.

BTW: World No.4 Elena Dementieva said this about Jankovic's tennis: "Her defensive game is just phenomenal, and it's almost impossible to hit a good shot from the baseline because she can cover the whole court. No matter what shot you hit, she is able to get to it and hits everything back at you. It seems like she can cover not only a tennis court but a whole soccer field." (photo via Yahoo)

Top seed Jelena Jankovic defeated third-seeded Elena Dementieva 0-6 6-1 6-0 (what a score!) in the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup.

Jankovic overcame a dreadful start to defeat the defending champion Dementieva. After being bageled in the first set, the Serb took 12 of the last 13 games to overcome the Russian in one hour 17 minutes and reach the final in Moscow.

Jankovic, who is now 6-3 lifetime against the Olympic champion Dementieva, is making only her second appearance at the Kremlin Cup. The first time she played in Moscow was in 2005 when she fell in the first round.

The world number one Jankovic is now just one step away from her third successive WTA singles title. Her next opponent will be Russian Vera Zvonareva who has just defeated compatriot Dinara Safina. (photo: Getty Images)