The top two seeds will meet in the final of the Taiwan Open after Venus Williams and Misaki Doi enjoyed semi-final victories on Saturday.
Top seed Williams has not dropped a set all week, but was made to work hard to defeat third seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-5 6-3 in an hour and 42 minutes.
The 35-year-old American served a total of 12 double faults and lost her serve three times during the contest, but broke Putintseva five times to make it three wins in a row against the 21-year-old from Moscow.
In the other semi-final, second seed Doi finally ended the run of sixth seed and home favourite Su-Wei Hsieh, needing just 54 minutes to complete a 6-0 6-2 victory.
Source: PA
