Tennis-Dementieva to meet compatriot Vesnina in Auckland final

WELLINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Beijing Olympic champion Elena Dementieva will meet fellow Russian and doubles partner Elena Vesnina in the final of the Auckland Classic after contrasting semi-final victories on Friday.

Vesnina made her first WTA Tour final with a tough 6-7 6-1 7-5 win over Britain's Anne Keovathong, in which she squandered four match points in the third set.

Vesnina was serving at 6-5 in the final set when the Briton saved the match points.

The 22-year-old Vesnina then had to save two break points of her own before she sealed victory with an ace in the match that lasted just under three hours. The top seeded Dementieva, however, had earlier wasted little time in defeating last year's finalist Aravane Rezai of France 6-2 6-2 in just 66 minutes.

It will be the second time the pair have played each other in singles after Dementieva beat Vesnina in three sets at S'Hertogenbosch in 2006.

They also played together in the doubles in Auckland, losing in the quarter-finals.

(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Melbourne; Editing by N.Ananthanarayanan)