Dominika Cibulkova has continued her dream debut at the WTA Finals with a thrilling 1-6 7-6 6-4 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova to battle through to the final after rallying past the Russian in an absorbing encounter on Saturday.
The 27-year-old will take on the winner of the second semi-final between world number one Angelique Kerber and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska in Sunday’s final.
“This is my first time here and it’s one of my dreams come true, just incredible,” world number eight Cibulkova said.
“In the first set she blew me away, so I was able to change things up and won because I was more aggressive on the court.”
The Slovakian threatened on Kuznetsova’s first service game but some booming forehands bailed out the Russian, who then edged ahead when she broke in the third game.
Kuznetsova was now firing on all cylinders, pushing Cibulkova all around the court and handing her the set in 32 minutes.
Kuznetsova continued to press and probe Cibulkova at the start of the second set but the Slovakian stepped up her intensity levels to manufacture her first break of the match in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead.
The Russian fought back immediately to put the set back on serve and as the tension mounted, neither player was capable of holding and four consecutive breaks from the ninth game sent it into a tiebreaker.
Cibulkova maintained her aggression in the tiebreak, quickly racing 6-2 ahead and sent the contest into a decider when she sent a backhand winner past her static opponent.
The third set was punctuated with several swings in momentum before Cibulkova followed up a gutsy hold from 15-40 in the ninth game to seal victory with another break.