Agnieszka Radwanska secured a top-four seeding for the Australian Open by beating Anna-Lena Friedsam to reach the Shenzhen Open final on Friday.
The 6-2 6-4 victory sees the Pole leapfrog Maria Sharapova, who was among a number of high-profile withdrawals across the WTA's portfolio of events this week.
Top seed Radwanska faced little resistance on her own serve in the first set and broke twice to comfortably clinch the opener.
An early break in the second set her up nicely for a push for the final, following up a strong finish to 2015 that culminated in victory at the WTA Finals in Singapore
Radwanska's opponent will be Alison Riske, who overcame Timea Babos 6-2 6-4 to reach her second career WTA final.
The American - ranked 27 places below Babos - was on the front foot from the off, opening the first set with a break of serve.
And Riske continued to place her opponent under pressure, forcing Babos to break point in each of her four service games - the Hungarian surviving just one as she fell a set behind.
The second set got off to just as bad a start for Babos and, despite restoring parity at 2-2, she lost the seventh game on her own serve to give Riske the decisive breakthrough.
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