Former world number one Venus Williams fought back from a set down to defeat Italy's Roberto Vinci 5-7 6-2 7-6(4) and make to the final of the Wuhan Open on Friday.
The 35-year-old American, winner of seven grand slam singles titles will face the winner of the second semi-final later on Friday, between fifth seed Garbine Muguruza and Germany's Angelique Kerber.
Vinci, who stunned Venus' little sister Serena in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open last month, fought back from 3-0 down, to take a topsy-turvy first set featuring five breaks of serve.
But she failed to hit the heights thereafter as Venus took command in the second set, racing ahead 5-1 before forcing the decider.
An early break put the American up 3-1 in the third set, but she stumbled when serving for the match at 5-3, with the Italian, chasing a best ever world ranking of 11th this week, breaking and then holding her own serve to make it 5-5.
It was then Vinci's turn to wobble when serving. The doubles specialist, who lost the U.S. Open final to compatriot Flavia Pennetta, failed to convert a match point and was broken as Williams forced a tiebreak.
Williams secured an early mini-break, as she wrapped the match in just under three hours to reach her 77th career final
