East West Bank Classic: The Italian reaches her first Tier II event final with a comeback victory.

CARSON - If a breakthrough victory can come against an unheralded journeyman who has never cracked the world’s top 50, then that’s exactly what Italy’s Flavia Pennetta achieved.

Pennetta earned a berth in the finals of a Tier II event for the first time Saturday afternoon, rallying past American Bethanie Mattek, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, in the semifinals of the East West Bank Classic. The 26-year-old is projected to rise to a career-high No. 15 in the rankings if she can upset fourth-seeded Dinara Safina in today’s championship match.

Safina reached the final by knocking off top-seeded Jelena Jankovic, 7-6 (3), 6-1.

It’s very important to me to be in the finals,” said Pennetta, who is 0-3 against Safina. “It’s going to be tough to win the tournament, but to play with top-10 players and to be winning matches, it’s very important.”

While this year’s Carson tournament lost much of its panache when the Williams sisters, Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew with knee injuries last week, reaching the finals is still a landmark achievement for Pennetta. She has captured six career WTA titles and finished in the top 50 the past four years, but much of her success has come in low-profile tournaments.

For Mattek, her inability to close out Pennetta was bitterly disappointing. The 23-year-old Miami resident remains best known for her garish on-court attire, but she believed capturing her first tour title in Carson might have helped her finally earn attention for her game instead of her wardrobe.

The day got no better for Mattek, either. She had been battling a back problem anyway, and it forced her to retire in the doubles semifinals when she and India’s Sania Mirza were down to Eva Hrdinova and Vladimira Uhlirova, of the Czech Republic, 6-2 and 2-1 in the second set.

“It’s been hurting me the last couple of days, and I think today because I had such a long singles match and then had to stop and go right on, it stiffened up on me and I couldn’t get warmed up,” Mattek said. “It’s something with my nerve, a disk probably jamming my nerve and causing pain to shoot down my leg.

“Basically what happens is my leg gives out if I’m in the wrong position on the court.”

Mattek’s serve deserted her in the third set of the singles semifinal, and the back might have been a factor.

“It affects (the serve) when I land, so I don’t think I was getting the extension I normally get,” she said. “But I should still have been able to do something.”

Mattek wore a tie-dyed magenta-and-black tank top Saturday, a toned-down look for a player who once wore gym shorts and knee-high soccer socks at Wimbledon and received a fine for playing in a striped cowboy hat at the U. S. Open. She quickly turned the focus away from her attire, showcasing a powerful forehand and improved fitness to capture the final five games of the first set.

A comeback from Pennetta seemed unlikely after the first set as she fanned herself in the 90-degree heat while a trainer tended to painful blisters on her left foot. But Pennetta didn’t wilt, overpowering Mattek in the second set and then displaying impressive resilience to rally from a 2-0 deficit to capture the third.

The key to the third set was Pennetta adjusting to Mattek’s newfound serve-and-volley approach. Pennetta got more consistent and more aggressive in the latter stages of the set, passing Mattek with a flurry of booming groundstrokes to hold serve at 5-5 and then to break to win the match.

“I didn’t play my best tennis, but in this kind of match, it’s very important to keep going,” Pennetta said. “In the end, she got tired and I was more consistent.”

Mattek survived two match points in the final game before Pennetta ripped a crosscourt backhand winner at a sharp angle to close out the victory. Pennetta raised her racquet above her head and grinned, while Mattek walked dejectedly to the net.

Asked during her post-match news conference if she enjoyed Saturday’s victory despite the blisters, searing heat and inconsistent play, Pennetta paused first, then smiled.

“Now yes,” she said. “When I’m on the court, not too much.”