Elena Vesnina reaches Indian Wells finals after losing in qualifying in 2016

A year ago, Elena Vesnina hit a low point when she lost in the first round of qualifying at the BNP Paribas Open and was ranked No. 86 in the world.

This year, she arrived at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden as No. 15 in the world and on Sunday will play for the championship.

The 30-year-old Russian raced past Kristina Mladenovic of France in the first set of their semifinal Friday and held off a late-charging Mladenovic in the second set to earn a 6-3, 6-4 victory under the lights of Stadium 1.

Her opponent in the final will be No.8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, who defeated No.3 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2).

The last player to lose in Indian Wells qualifying and reach the final in her next appearance was Serena Williams, who lost in qualifying in 1997 and won the title in 1999. The men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive $1,175,505. Each runnerup will get $573,680.

“This is a dream,” Vesnina said. “I hope it’s a great example for other players that everything can happen if you believe in yourself, you know that you have the game. I knew I could play well. I know I have the game. I have the shots. I have the serve. I was just, it was just about the consistency and using the right shots on the right moment. Don’t panic, don’t rush.”

“That’s actually the goal for me, to play like this for the whole year. Because all the top 10 players, biggest players, that’s their biggest weapon. They’re always staying cool on, like, tough moments.”

Kuznetsova, 31, lost in the final here in 2007 and 2008. Her victory on Friday set up the first all-Russian women’s final at this tournament since 2006, when Maria Sharapova defeated Elena Dementieva.

“We’ve been teammates since we were 12. It’s great that this will be a Russian final,” Kuznetsova said of Vesnina in an on-court interview. “Let the best one win.”

Vesnina said her greatest improvement in the past year has come in her mental approach.

“By education I’m a sports psychologist,” she said. “I finished university. And I’m reading a lot of books about that. Not a lot of books.... I read a couple of books. Big books, yeah.”

Those books, including one about Andre Agassi’s struggles to rebuild his life after his game and his personal life fell apart, helped Vesnina remain positive about her own career. The lessons were useful Friday when Mladenovic pushed back.

“It’s not easy, you know, to hold your nerve. But I’m really happy the way I handle it again,” Vesnina said. “You know, I was very focused, I was very concentrated on every point. I was not thinking about the final.”

But she made it, anyway, taking a path that included upsets of No.2 seed Angelique Kerber and No.12 seed Venus Williams. Vesnina’s world ranking could rise to No.13 if she wins Sunday. Kuznetsova’s ranking could rise to No.6 if she wins on Sunday.

This will be the 40th tournament final of Kuznetsova’s career, fifth-most among active players behind Serena Williams (92), Venus Williams (81), Sharapova (58) and Caroline Wozniacki (44).

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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