Elena Dementieva fought back from a set down to beat American Melanie Oudin and advance to the final of the Paris Indoor Open.
Top seed books place in Paris decider
Top seed Elena Dementieva fought back from a set down to beat American teenager Melanie Oudin 4-6 6-3 6-3 and advance to the Paris Indoor Open final.
The 28-year-old Russian will now face world number 46 Lucie Safarova in the decider after the Czech upset second seed Flavia Pennetta 4-6 6-3 6-4 in her semi-final match.
Dementieva will compete in the final for the second successive year after falling to Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo at the same event last season.
Fighter
"I'm really happy to get through after such a difficult match," said Dementieva.
"She is a real fighter and it's probably the most difficult win of the year for me."
World number seven Dementieva led 3-1 in the opening set before losing four games in a row to the unseeded American.
The Russian broke back in the ninth game but lost her next service game, allowing Oudin to wrap up the set.
After trading breaks, Dementieva pulled 4-3 ahead in the second set when Oudin made two successive unforced forehand errors.
The Russian went on to break Oudin in the ninth game to make it one set apiece.
Dementieva delivered a crucial break in the sixth game of the decider before closing out the match with a backhand drop winner after two hours and 24 minutes.
Meanwhile, Safarova overcame a thigh injury to deliver some emphatic baseline returns and dispose of world number 12 Pennetta.
The 23-year-old Czech had only encountered the Italian once before in Australia's Gold Coast event three years ago and had triumphed in straight sets on that occasion.
Risks
"Flavia is ranked 12th in the world, she's a very good player and still, I was able to stay focused throughout the match," said Safarova.
"I had to take risks but I did so at the right moments and it paid off."
The first set could have gone either way, with both players holding their serve throughout, but Pennetta broke through in the tenth game when she fired an ace before wrapping up the set in 40 minutes.
Safarova responded by powering into a 3-1 lead in the second, only for the Italian to break back in the fifth game to make the score 3-2.
Pennetta went on to squander a crucial break point in the fourth game, allowing the Czech to pull 4-2 ahead before storming on to take the second set.
The Italian failed to regain her stride in the final set as Safarova surged ahead to claim the victory, winning 82 percent of the points from her first service.
