Croatian Donna Vekic, aged just 16, has booked her place in the WTA AEGON Classic final in Birmingham.
The teenager set up a meeting against Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in the decider with a 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 6-3 win over 16th seed Magdalena Rybarikova on Saturday.
Both players made three breaks in an erratic first set but it was Vekic, showing composure that belied her age, who took the opening set. She clinched it with a series of important points in the tie-break, but faded shortly after.
Slovakian Rybarikova raced through the second set as she made the most of Vekic's struggles on serve, which saw her land just 42 percent of her first attempts.
The youngster looked down and out but produced a stirring fight-back in the third set, with her improvement on serve pivotal.
All of a sudden, Vekic was dominating on serve, and she claimed the all-important break to reach her second WTA final.
She will play Hantuchova, who made the most of a fatigued American Alison Riske to win her semi-final.
Due to bad weather on Friday, the scheduled quarter-final between Riske and Germany's Sabine Lisicki was forced to be played on Saturday.
Qualifier Riske stunned the crowd with a 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 6-4 win, which came despite the fifth seed hitting 15 aces.
But winning twice in one day was too much for Riske, who ran out of energy against Hantuchova, after featuring in over four hours of action.
The world number 60 fought back from an early setback to win 5-7 6-1 6-4 in two hours and 11 minutes.
Riske claimed three breaks in the opening set while she also performed well on first serve.
Hantuchova responded in style though, winning all 12 points on her first serve during the second set as she eased her way into a decider.
And although Riske battled hard, Hantuchova was too clever, working her opponent around the court in an impressive display.
The winner continued to dominate on first serve in the third set, winning 17 of a possible 19 points, as she set up a meeting against the young Croat.
