Karolina Pliskova charged into the final of the Tianjin Open and further boosted her hopes of making the WTA Finals with an emphatic 6-2 6-1 triumph over Timea Bacsinszky on Saturday.

Bacsinszky, who recently returned from a six-month injury lay-off, looked to be feeling the effects of her quarter-final victory over Aryna Sabalenka.

That success ended the Belarussian's hopes of making the WTA Finals, but Pliskova – who holds the eighth qualifying spot – is firmly on course to feature in Singapore and will now face Caroline Garcia in Sunday's final.

"I felt good," said the Tianjin top seed after a win that stretches her advantage over nearest rival Kiki Bertens.

"I quite like her [Bacsinszky's] game, and I just had the match under control. I know she can play better than she played, but I was just worried about myself."

"It was pretty fast today ...but she was a little bit tired because she had a long match yesterday."

Second seed Garcia overcame Hsieh Su-wei 6-3 6-4 to reach her first final of 2018.