WUHAN: Australia's Ashleigh Barty crushed French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 6-0 on Friday, cruising into the final at the Wuhan Open.
Barty, who began 2017 ranked outside the top 300, will face Maria Sakkari or Caroline Garcia in her first Premier 5 tournament final.
The 20-year-old Ostapenko, ranked 10 in the world, saw off world number one Garbine Muguruza in the quarters but appeared to struggle with an injury to her right wrist against Barty.
"I think Jelena was struggling a little bit tonight, I'm not sure exactly what it was," said Barty, 21.
"It's been an unbelievable week. I've played some really good tennis at a really consistent level throughout the match and haven't had any real drops," she added.
Barty, ranked 37th in the world, has already seen off former world number one Karolina Pliskova, Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded nine, and Johanna Konta, the fifth seed in a dream run in the humid Chinese city.