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Top seed Elena Dementieva today underlined her status as firm favourite for the ASB Classic tennis title in Auckland by advancing to the final with a straight sets win over Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai.
Rezai was bidding to make the event decider for the second year in a row, but couldn't match the polish of her Russian opponent, going down 6-2 6-2 in 66 minutes.
She dropped serve in the opening game, but broke straight back with her trademark strategy of going for her shots.
From there, however, world No 4 Dementieva dominated proceedings, proving too solid for Rezai, who came into the tournament with a ranking of 77.
Dementieva will play the winner of the other semifinal between two unseeded players, Britain's Anne Keothavong and Russian Elena Vesnina.
- NZPA
