BEIJING, Oct. 12 -- Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic rallied from a set down to advance to the final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow yesterday with a 0-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over defending champion Elena Dementieva.

    In her third straight final, the 23-year-old Serb will face seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva.

Russia's Vera Zvonareva returns a shot en route to a 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory over compatriot Dinara Safina in the semifinal of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow yesterday. (Photo: shanghaidaily.com) Photo Gallery>>>

    Zvonareva ousted Dinara Safina 6-2, 7-6 (5) in an all-Russia semifinal.

    Jankovic, who won back-to-back titles at the China Open and the Porsche Grand Prix in Germany, is looking for her fourth title this season and ninth of her career. She was runner-up two times this season - in Miami and at the US Open, where she lost to Serena Williams.

    Jankovic took the top ranking from the American last Monday and will retain it next week because Williams, the runner-up in Moscow last year, pulled out with an injury.

    Dementieva, the Beijing Olympic champion, was playing in her 62nd career semifinal. The third-seeded Russian opened strongly and frequently advanced to the net for winners in the first set.

    "Elena was better than me in the first set," Jankovic said. "She really had an answer for all my shots, she was always on the ball. I just couldn't do anything - she was too good."

    But it was the other way around in the second set. "I was thinking, what I need to do is to be better than her," Jankovic said. "I wanted to dominate, to be aggressive and try to win the points. I really put a lot of pressure on her to take the initiative from the first stroke."

    Jankovic found her rhythm and took four straight games.

    "I have a feeling that I really didn't push a lot in the second and the third sets," Dementieva said. "And I didn't finish points at the net, which was very successful in the beginning of the match."

    In the men's semifinals, Marat Safin was to play Mischa Zverev and Fabrice Santoro was taking on Igor Kunitsyn later.

    In Stockholm, Sweden, top-seeded David Nalbandian routed Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 6-1 yesterday to reach the final of the Stockholm Open.

    It was the fourth consecutive match the seventh-ranked Argentine has won in straight sets.

    In today's final, Nalbandian will play Robin Soderling of Sweden, who beat Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-0 in the other semi.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)