Istanbul: Czech left-hander Petra Kvitova stormed back from a set down to beat Samantha Stosur 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in a topsy turvy semi-final at the WTA Championships on Saturday and is now one win away from collecting the $1.75 million jackpot.
The 21-year-old Wimbledon champion, a debutant at the season-ending showpiece featuring the top eight women in the world after rising from 34th in the rankings in January, will face Belarussian Victoria Azarenka in Sunday's final.
Azarenka enjoyed a routine 6-2, 6-3 victory over Russia's Vera Zvonareva in the other semi-final and the winner of the title match inside the Sinan Erdem Arena will rise to second in the WTA rankings and start the new season breathing down the neck of Caroline Wozniacki.
Kvitova, whose stunning year will not be complete until after the Fed Cup final when she leads the Czechs against Russia next weekend, can claim the maximum available prize pot having also won all her three round-robin matches.
Stosur, who was also beaten in the semi-finals last year, snatched the first set after making a slow start as Kvitova's all-out attacking game began to misfire.
However, there was little the US Open champion could do once the Czech found her range.
"It's amazing how much she's been able to improve," Stosur, who suffered a third consecutive loss against Kvitova, told reporters. "I think I got beaten by a player who played very well today. She'll make a flurry of errors, but then she'll flip it over and you'll see a streak of winners."
Kvitova broke Stosur's serve in the first game of the match and was in control until she began spraying errors off the forehand. Stosur hung in and broke back in the eighth game and then pounced when her opponent wobbled at 5-6 down, sealing the set by pummelling away a smash.
The momentum was with Stosur at the start of the second set and she had a break point for a 2-0 lead only for Kvitova to angle away a serve that the Australian sliced into the net - a point greeted with a joyous yelp by the Czech.
A fired-up Kvitova then broke in the next game courtesy of a stunning backhand pass and from that moment on she regained her rhythm to leave Stosur in her exhaust fumes.
Kvitova broke in the ninth game to level the match and then scorched into a 5-0 lead in the decider before Stosur staged a late fightback that had her opponent looking anxious.
However, Kvitova kept her cool and the contest ended when Stosur netted a high backhand volley.
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