Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian world number three player, fought a hard three set battle with the Serbian number one and World number 3 player, Jelena Jankovic, to enter into the finals of the Dubai Tennis Women’s Championship. The St. Petersburg player is in the second final of the 2008 season had to tackle the wind and the powerful ground strokes of Jelena Jankovic to win the two hour forty-two minute whirlwind battle 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. The wind was a main factor in the match as it made matters worse for both the girls, but Kusnetsova played her best tennis in the points that really mattered.

As the game passed by, the erratic stroke play of Svetlana improved and she had to fight from 2-3 games down in the deciding set to win the match. Jankovic said that she was happy with how the season has panned out for her thus far and says she is well prepared for the season. Kuznetskova is slated to play in an All Russian final at Dubai, where she will face Elena Dementieva, a former French Open and US Open finalist. Dementieva, who is unseeded in this tournament, defeated the Italian Francesca Schiavone 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in the other semi final at Dubai.