Hantuchova into Thai final

Daniela Hantuchova's Pattaya Open title defence remains on track after setting up a meeting with Maria Kirilenko in the final.

Slovakian Hantuchova, seeded third, battled early against Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-Wei before easing to a 6-4 6-1 win at the WTA International tournament in Thailand on Saturday.

She will meet Kirilenko in the decider after the Russian was again forced into a fight, eventually getting past Romania's Sorana Cirstea.

Hantuchova had no such troubles against Hsieh, despite being pulled back to 3-3 in the first set after breaking in the opening game.

Hsieh, however, was broken again in the seventh game before Hantuchova saw out the opening set.

World number 20 Hantuchova was comfortable in the second, ending Hsieh's run at the tournament, which featured wins over Zheng Jie, Kimiko Date-Krumm and Sania Mirza.

Meanwhile, Kirilenko was forced into a three-set outing for the third time in four matches before overcoming Cirstea 6-2 5-7 6-4.

It could have been over in straight sets when Kirilenko served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Cirstea broke back before forcing a decider.

Kirilenko, ranked 26th in the world, booked a place in Sunday's final when she served out the match in the 10th game of the third set.

Hantuchova will be aiming for her fifth WTA Tour title and first in 12 months, while Kirilenko is without one since September 2008.