CLEVELAND -- Seventh-seeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich moved within one win of her first WTA Tour title, rallying to beat eighth-seeded Alize Cornet 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals at Tennis in The Land.
Sasnovich, ranked 36th in the world, won the final three games in the second set after Cornet served for the match up 5-4. She then jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third before closing out the 2-hour, 50-minute contest with a drop shot.
“When Alize had the chance to serve out the match, I was thinking, `If you are losing, lose aggressively,”’ Sasnovich said. “I tried to do my best because that’s all you can do in that situation.”
No. 37 Cornet of France did not lose a set in her first three victories in Cleveland, which included the 500th of her career in the opening round.
Sasnovich, who advanced to her fourth career final, will play No. 45 Liudmila Samsonova for the championship.
Samsonova beat Bernarda Pera 6-1, 6-2 in just 53 minutes, allowing four total points in winning all eight of her service games. The unseeded Russian fired seven aces without a double-fault against the lone American in the semifinals.
Pera, ranked No. 51, had won career-best 13 consecutive WTA matches and claimed titles at Budapest, Hungary and Hamburg, Germany. It was her first loss since Wimbledon two months ago.
