LADYDRAGON.COM - Caroline Wozniacki will face Elena Vesnina in the final of the Pilot Pen Tournament

Friday August 28, 2009

Caroline Wozniacki will face Elena Vesnina in the final of the Pilot Pen Tournament

The 19-year-old Wozniacki will be going for her sixth career title and her second consecutive win at the Pilot Pen on Saturday against Elena Vesnina by defeating Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 6-1 in a match that was moved from a 13,000-seat stadium to an indoor college court.

With a steady rain falling, a tropical weather system looming, and the U.S. Open on the horizon, tournament officials made the decision Friday evening to play the women's semifinals inside Yale's newly renovated Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.

About 300 fans squeezed into the building, leaning over a balcony that overlooked the courts or standing on adjacent courts.

Instead of a giant video screen, the score was kept by hand on a tiny tin scoreboard hung from a net normally used to separate the courts inside the hanger-like building.

"I was so focused on the match, I didn't really think too much about the other things," Wozniacki said. "I like to play indoors, so I didn't mind playing indoors. The most important thing is that I won. All the other things really doesn't matter."

"I didn't serve very well today," Pennetta said. "It's a little bit different play indoor to outdoor. The ball was always like really near my head. I didn't jump a lot today. I think she played a great match. She was very focused and very aggressive from the beginning. I had my chances, but I didn't make it."

As for Elena Vesnina, she dedeated 8 seeded Amelie Mauresmo, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 inside Friday night.

Vesnina, 23, has never won a WTA Tour event, though she had two ITF victories in 2003. She reached the final in Auckland in January, defeating Wozniacki along the way, before falling to Elena Dementieva.

Wozniacki has defeated Vesnina twice in three meetings, but they have split two meetings on hardcourt.