TOKYO: American seventh-seeded Christina McHale narrowly beat Jana Cepelova of Slovakia on Saturday to set up a Japan Women's Open title clash with Czech Katerina Siniakova.

McHale carved out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Cepelova in the semi-final at Ariake Tennis Forest Park.

In the other semi-final, Siniakova outpowered China's sixth seed Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-0.

The American and the Czech are set to begin the final at noon (0300 GMT) on Sunday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2016