Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova will contest an all-Russian final at the WTA Kremlin Cup after winning their respective last-four contests against Daria Kasatkina and Lesia Tsurenko on Friday.

With several top players such as Angelique Kerber, Flavia Pennetta and Agnieszka Radwanska having pulled out to focus on the WTA Finals, the draw in Moscow has been wide open this week.

Defending champion Pavlyuchenkova is one of the players to take advantage and she has the chance to win a second consecutive title after coming from behind to beat Kasatkina 2-6 6-2 6-4.

World number 31 Pavlyuchenkova has not won a WTA title since triumphing in Moscow 12 months ago, but now has the opportunity to lift her eighth career trophy.

Standing in her way is the experienced Kuznetsova, who is just one place below her final opponent in the rankings.

Kuznetsova, a two-time grand slam champion, overcame Tsurenko 6-2 6-4 in just one hour and 25 minutes.

Tsurenko threatened a comeback after taking a 4-2 lead in the second, but she was unable to cope with the class of Kuznetsova.

Kuznetsova has a 3-1 head-to-head record over Pavlyuchenkova, but the latter romped to a 6-0 6-1 victory in their most recent contest in Wuhan earlier this year.