Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova entered the women's doubles final of the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 win over Gabriela Dabrowski and Maria Jose Martina Sanchez.
The Indo-Czech pair took an hour and 18 minutes to emerge victorious from the tough battle against their unseeded opponents here on Friday, winning 66 of the total 121 points played.
They earlier registered a commanding 6-2,6-2 victory over Miyu Kato and Yifan Xu in the quarter-finals and beat Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara 6-7 (3),7-5,10-8 in the first round.
The second seeds will face China's Chen liang and Zhaoxuan Yang, who defeated Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears from the United States 4-6, 6-2, 10-5. It will be the first meeting between the two pairs.
Sania and her new partner Strycova, following the world number one doubles player's split from Swiss Martina Hingis, won the Cincinnati Open last month.
They were then beaten in the quarter-finals of the US Open. The Tokyo event is their third tournament together as a pair.
Radwanska beats Puig
Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig easily to set up a semifinal showdown with Caroline Wozniacki at the Pan Pacific Open on Friday.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Garbine Muguruza crashed out, meaning Saturday's second semi will be between Japanese wild card Naomi Osaka and the Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
Second-seeded Radwanska, of Poland, hit eight aces in overpowering the Puerto Rican 6-2, 6-3.
"At this level, you have to play well to win by that kind of score," said Radwanska, who also won here in 2011.
"I knew Monica was in great form, winning the gold, but you just have to go on court and play your game. I was serving great and that helped me a lot."
Over nine years, Wozniacki has an 8-4 record against Radwanska, and won their last three matchups.
"We've played so many matches everywhere on every surface, it's always a great challenge against her.," Radwanska said. "For me, she's still a top-10 player, even though her ranking dropped a bit. Hopefully, I can serve just as well against her."
Wozniacki, world-ranked 28, appears back near her best after ankle, knee, and bicep injuries; she reached the U.S. Open semifinals and continued that form.
She beat Polish qualifier Magda linette 6-4, 6-3. Wozniacki won 79 percent of points on her first serve, including 90 percent in the first set.
Osaka came from 5-0 down in the second set against Belarussian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich to seal a 6-3, 7-6 (6) win and reach a first WTA semifinal.
Svitolina took the opening five games on the way to winning a two-hour fight against French Open champion Muguruza, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
"I don't think she missed a ball in that first set, and after that she was very comfortable," Muguruza said. "I was really impressed with her movement, she covered everything."