Hantuchova reaches first final

Hantuchova is seeded 18th for the tournament

Slovakian's Daniela Hantuchova has beaten unseeded Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi in three sets to reach her first WTA Tour final.

The teenager overcame a shaky start to win 4-6 6-0 6-4 and set up a meeting with either Martina Hingis or Monica Seles.

Hantuchova, who stretched Venus Williams to three sets in the third round of the Australian Open this year, is ranked 26th in the world.

"It's so exciting for me, to be first time in the final and playing one of the best players in the world in a major tournament like this," said Hantuchova.

"There was a little bit of pressure, because I knew that I had a big chance to win this match today and that I was playing a player that is ranked much lower than me.

Decisive break

The nerves may have contributed to her 16 unforced errors in the opening set.

But Gagliardi, whose performance this week will move her from 70th in the world to inside the top 50, also thought her own game gave Hantuchova some problems.

"I think I just at that time was playing better. I was giving her no rhythm. She couldn't put her weight into her ball and she was making more mistakes," she said.

In the second set, however, Hantuchova turned the tables, eliminating mistakes as she raced to take the set 6-0 in 27 minutes.

They traded breaks early in the third, and Hantuchova finally got the decisive break in the final game of the match, breaking Gagliardi to love to seal victory.