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Spice Girl showdown Hingis, Kournikova in Kremlin Cup finals
Updated: Sunday October 29, 2000 1:17 AM
MOSCOW (AP) -- World No. 1 Martina Hingis will face friend and doubles partner Anna Kournikova in the finals of the $2.05 million Kremlin Cup after defeating Amelie Mauresmo of France in straight sets in Saturday's semifinals. In the men's semifinal, German David Prinosil scored a major upset Saturday by eliminating top-seeded Marat Safin 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-3 and denying the top Russian men's player from taking the top position in the ATP Tour Champions Race next week. In the finals Sunday, Prinosil will face defending champion Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who downed Marc Rosset 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 Saturday. Mauresmo broke Swiss star Hingis in the first and fifth games of the first set to take a 5-1 lead, but Hingis quickly gained control of the match, giving Mauresmo only four points before closing the first set and breaking her at love in the twelfth game. Hingis won 7-5, 6-3. "I just didn't play very well in the beginning, I made a lot of errors, and then I stopped," Hingis said. "And the game changed around. I just made it too easy for her in the beginning." Supported by a home crowd of 12,000 at the Olympic indoor stadium in Moscow, Kournikova took just 45 minutes Saturday to crash defending champion Nathalie Tauziat of France in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 and reach her first final this season. Russia's top women's player, Kournikova jumped to a 5-1 lead in the first set. She then allowed Tauziat to take only one game in the second set before scoring the fastest victory of the tournament. "I've played a good match today, one of my best," said fourth-seeded Kournikova, who had a 1-3 record against Tauziat. "I felt the support of the crowd." Second-seeded Tauziat made 5 double-faults and 22 unforced mistakes. And again Kournikova is one step away from her first career title, but there is one obstacle: Hingis. Kournikova has a 1-8 record against Hingis. In addition to facing off in the singles final, the two will have to play together in the doubles final Sunday, after defeating Alexandra Fusai and Tauziat of France 6-3, 6-0 Saturday. They will face Julie Halard-Decugis of France and Ai Sugiyama of Japan. In men's play, Safin and Prinosil both served hard and held their serve in the first set until it came to a tiebreaker. Safin fired an ace to close that set. But the 27-year-old Prinosil, 56th on the ATP Tour rankings, came back with aggressive play and decided the match in the sixth game of the third set, breaking Safin with a passing shot on a deuce. "I was shocked at the way he played today," Safin said. "He served well and didn't give me much chance. Unfortunately, such is life." Later Saturday, Safin lost again in doubles play with partner Deis Golovanov to Prinosil and Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman, 6-4, 6-4.
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