Wozniacki beats Arvidsson to reach Kremlin Cup final

Moscow - Caroline Wozniacki edged out Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson in a thrilling all-Scandinavian Kremlin Cup semifinal on Saturday that gives the Dane a shot at her second title of the season.

The third seed and wildcard prevailed 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 to reach the final after a two-and-a-half-hour duel, but worries about the Wozniacki’s serve in earlier matches persisted as she was broken eight times.

Top seed Samantha Stosur and fourth seed Ana Ivanovic play later Saturday for the right to meet Wozniacki in Sunday’s final.

An early break put Arvidsson 3-1 up before Wozniacki won five straight games to take the first set 6-3.

Quality returning from both players and erratic serving led to eight breaks of serve in the second set, which went to a tiebreak that Arvidsson dominated with accurate forehands.

Wozniacki served for the match while 6-5 up in the second but was broken, a fate that befell her twice in Friday’s quarterfinal against Dominika Cibulkova.

Arvidsson and Wozniacki traded breaks again in the decider before Wozniacki pulled 5-3 ahead but was again broken while serving for the match before breaking Arvidsson to win.

With the win, Wozniacki stretched her head-to-head record against Arvidsson, a personal friend, to 7-2.

The Dane is making her second appearance in Moscow after a second-round defeat to Nadia Petrova in 2008, while Arvidsson was a Kremlin Cup debutant.

A win in the final would seal a late-season resurgence for Wozniacki, who has slipped from No. 1 to 11th this season and won her only title of the year so far in Seoul last month.

Arvidsson, the world No. 46, won her second and last career title in Memphis in February and has not reached a final since, although she was a semifinalist in Brussels in May.