By Erik Gudris | Saturday, October 4, 2014

A pair of recent Grand Slam champions in Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova will meet each other in the China Open final in Beijing. The winner not only gets the coveted WTA premier mandatory title but will also rise to No. 2 in the world.

Kvitova survived a tough test from Australia's Sam Stosur in their semifinal. Though Kvitova enjoyed a healthy advantage in the overall head to head, the Aussie proved she was up to the challenge. With her trademark big serving and powerful groundstrokes, Kvitova claimed the opening set 6-3.

Stosur turned her game on in the second set. Hitting 13 winners of her own, Stosur grabbed a late break to win the set 7-5. Kvitova rebounded with a break of her own midway through the final set.

With her eighth ace on match point, Kvitova sealed the 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win.

The recent Wimbledon champion is now 8-0 in China since the US Open. That includes winning the Wuhan title last week.

"It's tough to say something about the match. I mean, it was really up and down. In the second set she was the better player on the court," Kvitova said. "I'm just glad I could win it in the third," Kvitova said later to WTA.com.

Sharapova Gets Revenge Over Ivanovic

Though Ana Ivanovic enjoyed two wins this season over Maria Sharapova, the tide changed in favor of the Russian during their semifinal in Beijing.

Sharapova, the reigning French Open winner, raced out to a 6-0, 1-0 lead before Ivanovic finally got on the scoreboard. Ivanovic would eventually get the second set on level terms, but her momentum was short-lived.

Sharapova broke the Serbian and soon closed out the 6-0, 6-4 win.

That sets up a final between Sharapova and Kvitova with the winner projected to rise to No. 2 in the world. Sharapova leads the overall head to head 5 to 2, that includes winning their last meeting in Miami earlier this year.

(Photo Credit: Getty)