Li Na of China celebrates her semi-final match win against Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Montreal, August 12, 2012.CHRISTINNE MUSCHI/Reuters
It will be Petra Kvitova and Na Li in the final of the $2.17-million women's Rogers Cup.
Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, dominated the final two sets of a rain-interrupted semi-final to defeat seventh-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday at the hardcourt event at Uniprix Stadium.
Li was one game from defeat before she fought back for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over 16th-seeded Lucie Safarova.
The final is set for Monday night, with both players vying for a first Rogers Cup title.
While Li's match was held in warm sunshine, evening play was delayed 45 minutes by a downpour just as the second set ended.
Kvitova, who has seven WTA victories but none in Noth America, broke service to open the final set and didn't let up in a well-played set that featured long baseline rallies.
The 22-year-old Czech is in her first tournament final of the year after winning six times in 2011.
Wozniacki, a former world No. 1 now ranked eighth, arrived from a quarter-final at the London Olympics also seeking her first tournament win of the season after claiming six in each of the previous two years.
Li's win was more dramatic.
Safarova led 5-1 in the final set but then fell apart as 10th-seeded Li won an error-filled match. The Czech admitted she thought the match was won and she only needed to let Li continue to make mistakes, but the Chinese veteran had other plans.
"There was nothing on my mind, you couldn't think too much on the court," said Li, the 2011 French Open champion. "I just told myself to play point by point, play the ball back in the court and see how it's going.
'This is tennis. You put the ball back in the court, and over the net. It looks easy, but sometimes I couldn't do it."
The 30-year-old Li has a six-match winning streak against Safarova dating to 2009 and is 6-1 in her career against the 25-year-old.
"Closing a match is always a little bit of a nervous moment," said Safarova. "I was thinking that she made a lot of mistakes in the games before, and I just didn't put enough pressure and she used that situation to turn it over.
"Then she started serving well and playing better and it just slipped away."
There was little for the crowd to cheer in a match with few long exchanges and many unforced errors. The lefthander Safarova hit some sweet forehands down the line in the first set, but Li got her first serve going in the second to tie the match.
Safarova looked to have the match locked up in the third, but then lost the range on her serve and her groundstrokes and watched Li win six games in a row.
"That's tennis — until the last point, it's not finished," said Safarova. "I should have gone for it more, taken more risks, and tried to go for winners, not wait for her mistakes. That's why she's a top-10 player. She goes for it in every situation."
There were sections of the grandstands nearly empty of spectators at centre court for both semifinals, a sign the event lacks the buzz of previous years going head-to-head with the London Olympics.
Li was coming off consecutive wins over top-opponents in Agnieszka Radwanska and Sara Errani.
Safarova had lost in the first round of her last two events — Wimbledon and the Olympics.
Safarova had already surpassed her best Rogers Cup performance by reaching the semifinal. The world No. 23 is now expected to crack the top 20.
The tournament began and ended a day later than usual due to accommodate the London Olympics.