Vakulenko faces Davenport in final

QUEBEC, Canada -- Third seed Julia Vakulenko will face comeback queen Lindsay Davenport in her first WTA Tour final at the Bell Challenge on Sunday.

The Ukrainian battled through with a 6-1 4-6 7-5 victory over American qualifier Julie Ditty in the semifinals.

The 24-year-old, who reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open, had previously twice lost at the last-four stage this year in Las Vegas and Berlin.

She reached a career high of 33rd in the world rankings back in May, but is now 36th.

"Sometimes you play your best and win easy, but sometimes you don't play your best and really have to fight hard," said Vakulenko, who squandered points for 5-3 leads in both the second and third sets.

"I'm just going to try my best -- I've never played her and I'm looking forward to it."

Former world No. 1 Davenport is seeking her second win in three tournaments since returning from a one-year hiatus to have a baby.

The 31-year-old, who is unseeded after accepting a wild-card to enter the Canadian tournament for the first time, also had to battle to beat Russian second seed Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 in the semifinals.

The three-time Grand Slam winner has surged back up the rankings from 234th to 126th after winning her comeback tournament in Bali and then reaching the last four in Beijing.

The American has now beaten Zvonareva in all six encounters between the two players.

"I played well in the first set and had some chances early in the second set, but I didn't quite capitalize on them. I was able to come back but at 4-4 and 5-5 I just didn't return well enough," Davenport said.

"I was happy I was able to regroup in the third set. Physically I feel good. There are lots of positives I can take from it, especially beating a really good player and now being in the final.

"I want to be the one on the offensive and not the defensive, and that's what I'm going to try to do.

"I was trying to watch the first semifinal and see if that helped, but I play so much differently than Julie Ditty that it was hard to get anything from it." E-mail to a friend

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