The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Los Angeles

Italy's Flavia Pennetta, seeking her third WTA title of the year, advanced to the final of a 600,000-dollar WTA hardcourt event by rallying to beat US wild card Bethanie Mattek here Saturday.

Pennetta defeated Mattek 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 and will play Sunday for the 95,500-dollar top prize against either world number two Jelena Jankovic of Serbia or Russian fourth seed Dinara Safina, who meet later Saturday.

Should Jankovic win the tournament, she would move past compatriot Ana Ivanovic, the 2007 Los Angeles winner who is idle this week, and become the 18th player to claim the WTA world number one ranking.

Jankovic, who has been fighting through a knee injury she suffered at Wimbledon, is 2-1 lifetime against ninth-ranked Safina, the French Open runnerup. Jankovic has never reached a Grand Slam final.