Australian Samantha Stosur went one better than last year to reach her first WTA Tour tennis final after beating Italian Silvia Farina Elia here on Friday.
The powerful Stosur made hard work of her semi-final against fifth seed Farina Elia before prevailing, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, to avenge last year's heart-breaking exit.
The 20-year-old Australian was knocked out of the 2004 tournament one match short of the final by eventual champion Ai Sugiyama of Japan.
Stosur will meet second seed, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who recovered from a slow start to down 16-year-old French hope Tatiana Golovin 3-6, 6-4,
World No.14 Schnyder fought back from a set and a break down against the French teenager, who jumped an astonishing 328 ranking spots last year.
Stosur said she put the loss of the second set behind her and tried to focus on giving it her all going into the deciding set against Farina Elia.
"I'm at a career high (ranking) at the moment and that's great for me but obviously I'd like to get it better and get it up to where the players are that I'm beating. The more weeks I have like this it will get there eventually.
"The crowd's been great all week," she said. "I know they've been behind me and cheering me on. They really lifted me today, it's great playing here."
Schnyder said she was pleased to have a difficult encounter ahead of her first meeting with Stosur.
"I'm happy that I had a longer match. I'm playing well and I had to step up my game because she (Golovin) was hitting the ball really good today," Schnyder said.