Tashkent, Uzbekistan (My Sportsbook) - Shahar Peer of Israel and Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova will meet for the title at the Tashkent Open after both were semifinal winners on Saturday. The second-seeded Peer continued her recent strong play with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 win over fourth-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus, while the unseeded Amanmuradova thrilled the home crowd with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) triumph over top- seeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. Peer is coming off a title last Sunday in Guangzhou and has not dropped a set in the past two weeks. She has four career WTA titles. Amanmuradova is back in the final of her hometown tournament for the second time. She was a loser to Michaella Krajicek in 2005 in her only previous appearance in a WTA Tour final. The Tashkent native, who is ranked 113th in the world, had not been past the second round of any WTA Tour event this year prior to this week. Sunday will mark the second meeting in as many weeks between Peer and Amanmuradova. Peer was a 6-3, 6-3 winner in the second round of last week's Guangzhou event and has never dropped a set in four lifetime matches against Amanmuradova. The 2009 Tashkent winner will earn $37,000. |
