Victoria Azarenka completed a straight-sets win over ninth seed Marion Bartoli on Saturday to join Maria Sharapova in the final of the China Open.
Bartoli surrendered a close first set cheaply with a double fault, and the Belarusian world No. 1 broke four more times to secure a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Sunday’s final will see the fifth clash of the year between Azarenka and Sharapova, who earlier knocked out local favorite Li Na.
The Russian has beaten Azarenka only once this season, in the Stuttgart final in April.
The prize fund of the hard-court China Open is $4.8 million.
