Unseeded Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu beat third-seeded Su-wei Hsieh 6-3 6-3 on Saturday to advance to the final of the ASB Classic against defending champion Julia Goerges.
After qualifying and then leaving a trail of seeded opponents in her wake, 18-year-old Andreescu, ranked 152 in the world, outplayed the 28th-ranked Hsieh to reach her first WTA Tour final.
Sevens days ago, Andreescu entered the qualifying rounds of the Classic, unheralded and hoping to get in a few matches in Auckland before chancing her arm in qualifying at the Australian Open.
On Sunday she will play Goerges for a WTA Tour title after beating world No.3 Caroline Wozniacki, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and Hsieh on her way to the final.
"I guess Auckland just brings the best out of me," Andreescu said.
"I don't know what's going on really. I think it's really important to me to just stay in the present and I think I've been doing that this whole week, I'm beyond grateful right now."
Andreescu's win over Hsieh was her most dominant performance of the week. She beat top-seeded Wozniacki 6-4 6-4 and sixth-seeded Williams 6-7 (7-1) 6-1 6-3.
On Saturday, she took charge of her match with Taiwan's Hsieh from the outset, producing the range of drop shots and changes of pace which have served her so well this week but playing with more obvious confidence.
