Second-seed Belinda Bencic has overwhelmed tenacious American teen Coco Gauff to advance to the final of the Adelaide International.
Bencic prevailed 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 in Friday night's semi-final to set up a WTA title bout with French Open champion Iga Swiatek.
Fifth-seed Swiatek earlier brushed aside Jil Teichmann 6-3 6-2 in her semi-final and is yet to drop a set at the Memorial Drive tournament.
Bencic, the world No.12, took almost three hours to eclipse the 16-year-old Gauff.
The American teen skipped to a 3-0 lead in the opening set before losing momentum, cruelled by 21 unforced errors in the set and conceding the initial three points in the tiebreak.
Bencic, chasing a fifth career title, then raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set before the spirited Gauff fought back, saving a match point en route to another tiebreak.
Gauff took the initial four points and forced a third set.
But after her service was broken in the opening game, and again in the fifth, Gauff's resistance was also broken.
The 23-year-old Bencic will play Swiatek for the first time in Saturday night's final.
Swiatek is seeking a second career title after her win at Roland Garros last year and the Polish 19-year-old said she would treat the decider as just another match.
"The key is to keep your routines," Swiatek said.
"The most important thing is to have the same attitude because I know I've been doing a great job.
"Keeping that (attitude) is going to ensure me that it's just another match.
"I'm not going to be stressed. I'm not going to have higher expectations."
But the power-packed world No.18, who was a fourth-round loser at the Australian Open, said another title would go some way to achieving a personal ambition.
"I want to be a more consistent player," she said.
"I feel that it's going to be easier year-by-year because I'm going to be more grown up, I'm going to be able to physically and mentally handle tournaments every week."
