By Jilawatan

Vera Zvonareva of Russia and India’s Sania Mirza won semifinal matches Saturday and will play for the title at the Pattaya Open on Sunday.

The top-seeded Zvonareva easily breezed past seventh-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel, 6-1, 6-4. Peer won this title in 2006. Mirza, meanwhile, pulled out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 triumph over eighth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.

Zvonareva, currently ranked fifth in the world, is coming off her best finish in a Grand Slam event, losing in the semifinals to countrymate Dinara Safina at the Australian Open. She will be trying for her eighth career WTA singles crown on Sunday.

Last year, Zvonareva was 2-6 in finals. She has a career mark of 7-11 in title matches.

Sunday will mark the first WTA singles final for Mirza since losing to Anna Chakvetadze in Stanford in 2007. Her lone singles crown came back in 2005 at her home event in Hyderabad.

Mirza, who had been ranked as high as No. 27 back in August of 2007, is currently ranked just 126th after battling through a wrist injury for much of last season. She was a second-round loser to Nadia Petrova at the Australian Open, but won the mixed doubles title in Melbourne with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi.

Zvonareva and Mirza have met just once previously, with Mirza rallying from a set down to earn a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2005 Japan Open.

The 2009 Pattaya titlist will claim $37,000.