Natalia Zvereva survived a sluggish start to slip past Mary Pierce on Saturday and into the finals of Family Circle Magazine Cup tournament.
Zvereva, the sixth seed, defeated No. 7 Pierce 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 at Sea Pines Resort. In today's championship, she'll face No. 2 Conchita Martinez, a 6-3, 6-7 (7-3), 6-4 winner over unseeded Iva Majoli.Zvereva needed three sets to advance in the $750,000 clay-court tournament for the third time in four matches this week.
"I guess right now, it's not my kind of game just to start trying to make winners at the beginning of the match," she said. "I think I have to work things in."
Pierce, who ousted top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario on Friday, took just 27 minutes to win the first set. She appeared sharp and secure, while Zvereva made 18 errors.
That turned in the next set as Zvereva broke Pierce's serve four times. It was Pierce who made the mistakes, missing a pair of forehands as Zvereva broke serve in the seventh game to lead 4-3. A drop shot winner by Zvereva closed out the set.
"Somehow, I just stayed in there," said Zvereva, who lost the 1989 Family Circle finals to Steffi Graf. "I thought it was good because she was hitting some winners from both her wings that were tough to get."
The final set turned on Pierce's inability to break Zvereva's serve, something she'd done six times during the match.
Tied 2-2, Pierce had three break points in the fifth game. Zvereva fought them off and eventually sent a blistering forehand past Pierce to take a 3-2 lead.
"I played great in the first set, like I'd been playing, but after that I ran out of gas a little," said Pierce, who had a left thigh strain worked on during the set. "I was feeling a little tired and was probably about two steps a little slower today."
That cost her considerably when Zvereva pulled out her drop shot. Several times in the final two sets, Zvereva would dink a shot just over the net while Pierce turned away.
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In Osaka, Japan, Pete Sampras needed just 55 minutes to beat fellow American Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals of the Salem Open on Saturday.
France's Lionel Roux earned the other final berth with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Henrik Holm of Sweden.
The 20-year-old Roux, ranked 210th in the world, eliminated Ivan Lendl in the second round.
Earlier in the day, in a rain-delayed quarterfinal match, Agassi beat David Wheaton 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.