American Bethanie Mattek spoiled Aleksandra Wozniak's bid to become the first Canadian to reach the final of the WTA's Bell Challenge Saturday and booked her own first WTA Tour final berth in the bargain.
Mattek, the sixth seed, defeated the fifth-seeded Canadian 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to reach the final of the 175,000-dollar Tier Three event.
The 23-year-old Mattek now has a chance to add a title to what has already been her best career year, in which she has broken into the top 50 for the first time and turned in impressive semi-final runs at Birmingham and Los Angeles.
It was a disappointing end to the week for 21-year-old Wozniak, a native of Blaineville, Quebec, whose victory at Stanford earlier this year made her the first Canadian in 20 years to win a WTA title.
Russian top seed Nadia Petrova, a former world number three now ranked 11th in the world, was to take on US lucky loser Angela Haynes in the second semi-final.
Petrova, 26, has gradually built up steam this season, winning her only title of the year at Cincinnati in August and reaching the final in Stuttgart earlier this month.
Haynes, ranked 189th, is enjoying a dream run in Quebec, where she broke into the quarter-finals of a tour event for the first time. Haynes only made the main draw after Italian Flavia Pennetta pulled out of the tournament.
Copyright 2008 AFP Global Edition
