Victoria Azarenka booked her place in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Agnieszka Radwanska.
World number one to face Sharapova in Stuttgart final
Victoria Azarenka booked her place in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Agnieszka Radwanska.
The world number one suffered a break of serve in the second set but was otherwise dominant in a match lasting an hour and 17 minutes.
Radwanska has had a solid year, rising to fourth in the world, but it would have better if it wasn't for Azarenka, who has now won all five of their meetings in 2012.
The Pole showed little sign that she has learned to deal with Azarenka's heavy groundstrokes, with the Australian Open champion racing through the first set with three breaks in 24 minutes.
The second was a closer affair until Azarenka broke in a pivotal sixth game that produced several deuces, and although Radwanska kept her opponent honest by holding her next service game, the top seed had few problems closing out the win with a decisive drive volley.
"I think she is such a good player that I have to step up to beat her, I think she brings the best out of my game," Azarenka said of Radwanska.
Control
"We had some good rallies and I was just trying to stay in control of the game.
"It's excellent for women's tennis to have all of the world's top four players in the semi-finals."
Azarenka will face Maria Sharapova in the final on Sunday after the Russian defeated Petra Kvitova 6-4 7-6 in the other semi-final.
The world number two needed just under two hours to complete victory, breaking her Czech opponent in the fifth game of the first set and the 11th game of the second.
Wimbledon champion Kvitova managed to break back and temporarily save the match, but Sharapova held her nerve in the tie-break to round out the win.
Sharapova said: "It was extremely close and I am just glad to get through. She's a very powerful hitter and hits it really low, you have to stay down and be aggressive."
Sharapova has already lost two finals to Azarenka and is coming off the back of a third final defeat to Agnieszka Radwanska at Indian Wells.
