(Reuters) - Italy's Camila Giorgi saved four match points in a tense third set tiebreak to defeat top seed Wang Qiang and reach the final of the Bronx Open on Friday.
Giorgi, a 4-6 6-4 7-6(6) winner, will meet Polish qualifier Magda Linette for the title on Saturday.
"It’s weird, because I didn’t have so many matches this year," said Giorgi, who made her second final of the season despite three months out in the spring with a wrist injury.
"But I think I was very consistent, and I was focusing on each point. Nothing else."
Linette stopped Czech fifth seed Katerina Siniakova 7-6(3) 6-2 in the first semi-final.
Giorgi was down 6-3 in the tiebreak before winning five consecutive points to make her third career final.
The match opened with Giorgi breaking China's Wang early but the top seed struck back and won five consecutive games to claim the set.
Wang rallied from another early break in the second set but fell in the 10th game, pushing a forehand wide on set point to allow Giorgi to level the match.
In the first semi-final, Linette needed six set points before sealing the tiebreak with a backhand.
She ended up cruising to victory as Siniakova struggled with double-faults and groundstroke errors.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ian Ransom)
