China's Li Na defeated Dominika Cibulkova for the third time this year to reach the Sony Open final.
The victory took Li into the final of the WTA Premier event where she will face top seed Serena Williams, who defeated Maria Sharapova.
In men's competition on Thursday, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal stormed back from a set down to defeat Canada's Milos Raonic in their quarterfinal.
Li trailed 3-1 in the third set but held serve in the fifth game before breaking Cibulkova twice to win the semifinal 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in 2:22 in Key Biscayne, Fla.
Li overcame Cibulkova to win the Australian Open in January and also won their Indian Wells quarterfinal. She is now 7-0 head-to-head against Cibulkova.
Nadal ran out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 winner in 2:35 minutes to reach the ATP event's final four.
Raonic stunned Nadal early, taking the first set in just under an hour after breaking Nadal in the 10th game.
That seemed to spark Nadal, who won the opening four games of the second set.
Nadal will face fifth seed Tomas Berdych in the semifinals. Berdych eliminated Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Their semifinal was scheduled for 7 p.m. ET Friday, with the winner getting a title shot against Novak Djokovic. Kei Nishikori, who vanquished Roger Federer on Thursday, withdrew on Friday because of a groin injury.
Earlier Thursday, Williams reached her ninth Sony Open final with a straight-sets victory over Maria Sharapova.
Williams only needed 98 minutes to produce a 6-4, 6-3 victory.