Maria is through to her first final at the China Open in Beijing after she defeated No.7 seed Li Na of China 6-4 6-0 in an hour and 41 minutes.

This is Maria's eighth appearance in a final in 2012.

In the first set, Maria found herself 3-1 down and won five of the next six games to take the set 6-4 in 90 minutes.

Maria continued the run of games in the second set as she didn't drop a game against the 2011 Roland Garros champion and won match point when the No.7 seed hit a shot into the net.

In Sunday's final, Maria will play No.1 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Maria has played Azarenka ten times before and Azarenka leads the series 6-4. Here are the matches they have played against each other:
Moscow 2007 R2: Azarenka won 7-6 6-2
Los Angeles 2009 R2: Maria won 6-7 6-4 6-2
Beijing 2009 R2: Maria won 6-3 6-7 7-5
Stanford 2010 Final: Azarenka won 6-4 6-1
Miami 2011 Final: Azarenka won 6-1 6-4
Rome 2011 Quarter-Final: Maria won 4-6 3-0 ret. 
Australian Open 2012 Final: Azarenka won 6-3 6-0
Indian Wells 2012 Final: Azarenka won 6-2 6-3
Stuttgart 2012 Final: Maria won 6-1 6-4
US Open 2012 Semi-Final: Azarenka won 3-6 6-2 6-4