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Vikings' Asher Allen retires at age 24
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Flavia Pennetta and Zheng Jie posted wins Friday and advanced to the title match of the ASB Classic tennis tournament in New Zealand.
Pennetta, seeded No. 4, routed Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour and Zheng topped third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
It was the second consecutive match that Pennetta dropped just three games. She won nearly two-thirds of the points and had five service breaks in eight games against Kerber. Pennetta landed just 43 percent of her first serves but didn't have a double fault and won more than 70 points of the points on serve.
Zheng beat Kuznetsova for the first time in seven career meetings but needed nearly 2 1/2 hours to finish off the win. She lost her serve five times but only once in each of the last two sets.
Pennetta holds a 3-2 lifetime edge over Zheng, including winning both matches they played since 2006. Pennetta, the runner-up in Auckland in 2010, will be going for her 10th WTA title on Saturday. Zheng has three championships but the most recent was in August 2006.
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