Lisa Raymond kept her hopes of a third consecutive Cellular South Cup title alive with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-0 victory over fourth seed Laura Granville.

Raymond, the only champion in the two-year-old women's tournament at the Racquet Club of Memphis, needed just 71 minutes to book her place in the final, where she will meet top-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who defeated her doubles partner Maria Sharapova in the first semifinal.

"It feels great to be in the final again," said Raymond: "Any time you can come back and play as well as you have in previous years at the tournament, it's very gratifying and hopefully I can win for a third time tomorrow."

In the semifinal, it was Granville who made the better start, breaking Raymond in the opening game of the match. But Raymond, the World No. 24 who reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open last month, broke back immediately and settled into her game. From 3-3 in the first set, Raymond reeled off nine games in a row and lost just 13 points in the second to breeze into Saturday's final.

"In the first set, Laura played well," said Raymond. "If I hadn't broken back as quickly as I did, she could have relaxed a little bit and run off a few games. So it was important for me to get that break to go 5-3 and I settled a lot in the second, stepped it up and finished it off."

Looking ahead to her meeting with Zvonareva, she added: "It's certainly not going to be easy. I played her in Philadelphia last year and I won in three sets, but it was a tough match. This is a final, so anyone who gets to a final is playing well. We both want to win very badly and it's going to be a good match. But it's been fun since I landed in Memphis. I love being here and it's a great challenge, especially as I'm here on my own, without my coach or family this year."

Battle

Earlier in the day, Zvonareva recorded a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory over No. 3 seed Sharapova to reach her first Memphis final. In a battle of the two Russian doubles partners, the 19-year-old Zvonareva fell 3-0 behind in a first set in which there were six breaks of serve before finally taking it in the tie-break. She then broke Sharapova to lead 3-1 in the second and remained in control to clinch victory.

"Maria started to play really, really well," said Zvonareva. "She didn't give me a chance to relax and was hitting lots of winners. But then I held my serve at 3-0 and found my game a little bit. In the tie-break, I had a little bit more luck to win. I knew I had to play really good tennis to beat her. I started to serve a little bit better and keep more balls in court."

Looking forward to her third career WTA Tour final (1-1), she added: "I'm excited to be in the final. To be the top seed and be in the finals, it's not easy at all. I'm really happy. I'm here for the third year, so it's my best result."

A disappointed Sharapova said: "I played well until 4-1. Then, I just ran out of gas. I gave it my all. In the 1st set, I was moving well, but in the second set, I just didn't have any more energy and didn't take my chances."