Clijsters, Hantuchova in WTA Los Angeles Final

No. 9 seed Daniela Hantuchova took full advantage of a walkover in the quarterfinals against the injured Maria Sharapova, on Saturday upsetting No. 3 seed Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the final at the WTA stop in Los Angeles.

It is the first final for Hantuchova in more than a year.

Hantuchova displayed variety not normally seen on the WTA Tour, mixing drop shots and service variety, and racheting-up the baseline power to top the Russian known for her famously-shaky serve.

"I'm really excited," Hantuchova said after ousting Dementieva. "I feel like I had a great summer so far. I'm really enjoying it."

In the final the Slovak will face the hottest player of the U.S. summer series, No. 5-seeded Kim Clijsters who weathered spotty play to come back from deficits in both sets to defeat No. 13-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-4.

The Belgian trailed 0-2 in the first set, and 1-3 in the second before turning the tables on the power-challenged Italian, who hung in with some ear-splitting grunting and tenacious play.

Clijsters takes a career 6-0 mark against Hantuchova into the final.

Dementieva came back in the doubles semifinal, teaming with Flavia Pennetta to upset No. 2-seeded Spaniards Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-1.

In the final they will face the late-night winner of the match between unseeded Chinese Ting Li/Tiantian Sun and wildcard Americans Angela Haynes/Bethanie Mattek.