Serena Williams to meet Victoria Azarenka in Indian Wells final

Serena Williams will face Victoria Azarenka in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Top seed Williams overcame a slow start to beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 7-6 and reach the final for the first time since 2001.

Williams, who appeared to be struggling with injury early in the match, fell 4-2 behind before reeling off four successive games to snatch the set from the third seed.

The American extended her games streak to seven to open up a 3-0 lead in the second set but Radwanska, whose recent form will see her rise to No 2 in the world on Monday, battled back strongly.

She got the set back on serve by winning three successive games and later broke to claim a 6-5 lead, but she was unable to hold serve and force a decider, instead having to settle for a tie-break.

But Radwanska fell apart in the breaker, as Williams reeled off seven straight points from 0-1 to take the victory and improve her head-to-head record to 10-0.

"I think it was really good for me to have a match like that and I think that's the reason Aga [Radwanska] is doing so well, because she never gave up," Williams said.

"I was up so much in the second and she just came back and was determined more than ever, so it was really good to play well against her tonight. I could have played three sets but I figured I should at least do 1,000 percent right now. That's what I tried to do."

Azarenka, seeded 13, found her way past Karolina Pliskova 7-6 1-6 6-2 in the second semi-final despite struggling badly with her serve.

The former world No 1 sent down five double faults in winning the opening set and was blown away in the second by 18th seed Pliskova, but Azarenka regained her composure to win the deciding set in style.

"It definitely was a tough battle," Azarenka said. "I'm glad I stayed strong and stayed cool and calm and tried to find a way in the third set to take control.

"I worked so hard this week to put myself in a position to play the best player in the world. That's exactly where I want to be. I want to go out there and try to play my best tennis, play high quality tennis, do what I do in practice and just have fun."