Victoria Azarenka and Ekaterina Makarova will contest the final of the Eastbourne championships after beating higher-ranked opponents in Friday's semi-finals on England's south coast.
Belarus's Azarenka, who has suffered a lean year after shooting up the rankings in 2009, beat France's eighth seed Marion Bartoli 6-3 7-5 while Russia's Makarova surprised French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur 7-6 7-5.
Stosur started strongly and powered into a 3-0 lead at which point Makarova, ranked 100 in the world, consulted with her coach and began to fire off some stunning winners.
Australia's Stosur was not at her best as she slipped to defeat but the world number seven was not too disappointed with her week's work.
"To have played as many matches as I have, on the whole well, it's still good preparation," Stosur told reporters. "Physically I feel fine, I'll take a day off tomorrow, and then have a day or two to prepare for the Wimbledon first round."
Azarenka, ranked 15, was all high-pitched shrieking and powerful baseline hitting against Bartoli as she showed flashes of the form that propelled her into the top 10 last year.
"It was a very tough match, she kept moving me from side to side," the 20-year-old Azarenka, who knocked out Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals, said. "It's been a while since I won so many matches."
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