Sam Stosur beat French wild card Virginie Razzano 7-6 6-3 on Saturday to reach the Carlsbad Open final.
The Australian fifth seed utilised her big serve and forehand to repel Razzano and was able to overcome a 4-0 deficit in the first set by overpowering her ambitious opponent to reach a first WTA final in nine months.
After recovering from her slow start, Stosur dictated most of the action and played a far more authoritative tiebreaker, winning it 7-2 with a big serve that Razzano could barely touch.
The Australian broke Razzano early in the second set and went on to seal victory when the Frenchwoman, who had needed three-and-a-half hours to upset third seed Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals, hit a backhand long.
Stosur faces world number three Victoria Azarenka in Sunday’s (August 4) final after the Belarussian beat seventh seed Ana Ivanovic 6-0 4-6 6-3.
Azarenka will be the strong favourite with the top seed holding an 8-0 record against Stosur in previous meetings.
Azarenka has won 28 straight matches on outdoor hard courts since her 2012 U.S. Open final defeat, despite withdrawing from three tournaments during the period with injuries.
Results from the Carlsbad Open Women’s Singles Semi-final matches on Saturday
5-Sam Stosur (Australia) beat Virginie Razzano (France) 7-6(2) 6-3
1-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat 7-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-0 4-6 6-3