Toronto, ON (My Sportsbook) - Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova and fourth- seeded Elena Dementieva will meet in Sunday's all-Russian title match after each won their respective semifinal matches on Saturday at the $2 million Rogers Cup, a U.S. Open tune-up.
Dementieva took down the reigning Wimbledon, Australian Open and U.S. Open champion Serena Williams 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 in one hour, 41 minutes on the hardcourts at Rexall Centre. Dementieva won for the fourth time in six matches against Williams -- discounting one withdrawal.
The 27-year-old Dementieva improved to 4-6 all-time against Williams after converting on 5-of-10 break chances. It was the first time the two had met since this year's semifinals at Wimbledon, which Williams narrowly took in three sets, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 8-6.
Sharapova snuck past countrywoman Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours, 37 minutes to secure her spot in the finals.
With the score tied at 4-4 in the third set, Sharapova broke Kleybanova's serve before going on to win the match on her own serve.
To reach Saturday's matchup, Kleybanova surprised No. 5 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (9-7), 6-2, in a match that took over three hours to complete. Jankovic was last year's U.S. Open runner-up to Williams and last week's champion in Cincinnati.
Sharapova bounced 14th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in the quarterfinals on Friday.
This will be the 11th all-time meeting between Sharapova and Dementieva, with Sharapova leading the series 8-2. Dementieva hasn't beaten Sharapova since beating her in the semifinals in Los Angeles in 2006.
This week's winner will collect $350,000.