Top-seeded Wozniacki and Martinez Sanchez to meet in Swedish Open final

Wozniacki, Martinez Sanchez reach Swedish final

BASTAD, Sweden — Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 Friday to reach the Swedish Open final for the first time.

Wozniacki will play unseeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in Saturday’s final. Martinez Sanchez defeated Gisela Dulko 7-5, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

The ninth-ranked Wozniacki broke Pennetta’s serve twice in the third set, wrapping up the match on her second match point when the Italian player netted a backhand return.

Pennetta, seeded third in the clay-court tournament, forced a decisive set when she broke Wozniacki’s serve in the 10th game of the second set, hitting a superb volley that the Dane could not return.

It was the first time in four matches that Wozniacki dropped a set in the tournament.

Wozniacki, who turns 19 on Saturday, has won five WTA titles, including two this year at Ponte Vedra and Eastbourne. She reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last week.

The final will be the first meeting between Martinez Sanchez and Wozniacki.

“My game is difficult for my opponents, it’s not easy to read me,” Martinez Sanchez said after coming back from a 4-2 deficit in the second set to beat Dulko.

It was their second match this year. Martinez Sanchez also beat Dulko in the Bogota final in February when the Argentine won just five games.

The Bogota title is Martinez Sanchez’s lone career singles crown. The Spaniard has won eight WTA doubles titles and is in the hunt for the Swedish Open doubles title with compatriot Nuria Llagostera Vives.

The Swedish Open moved back to Bastad, where the first women’s tournament was held in 1948, after five years on hard courts at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm.