Belgian duo Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters set up a reprise of their French Open final clash after they won their semi-finals at the Ordina Open on Friday.
But while Clijsters was impressive in her 6-2, 6-1 defeat of German Barbara Rittner, French Open champion Henin-Hardenne was pushed to the limit as she came from a set and 4-1 down to beat Russian Nadia Petrova 5-7, 7-6, 6-3.
Clijsters, beaten by Henin-Hardenne in the Roland Garros final earlier this month, produced her best performance of the week to move to the verge of her first grasscourt title.
Rittner had already beaten two seeds, France's Amelie Mauresmo and Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova, in the tournament but could not deal with Clijsters' groundstrokes, which were at their powerful best.
Making light of a tricky wind, the top seed cruised through the first set and then stepped up another gear in the second to reach her eighth final of the year.
"I think today I was able to dominate and hit the shots I wanted to," Clijsters said.
"I still feel like there is work to do, I can improve a lot, but it's coming."
For a set and a half, Henin-Hardenne looked as if her honeymoon period as Belgium's first Grand Slam champion was about to end as Petrova outplayed her with a superb all-court performance.
Dominating the points from the baseline, the Russian showed a particularly good touch at the net and, after taking the first set, she raced to a 3-0
The Russian maintained led 4-1 and held two points for a 5-3 lead. But, as the errors started to creep into her game, Henin-Hardenne hit back, snatching the set on a tie-break.
Once she had broken in the second game of the final set, the result was never in doubt and a relieved Henin-Hardenne eased to victory.
"She played well but I didn't play my best tennis today," Henin-Hardenne said.
"But tomorrow I will play my fourth match on grass and I think this is great preparation for Wimbledon. Winning matches like this gives me a lot of confidence."
STEP CLOSER
In the men's event, defending champion Sjeng Schalken moved a step closer to a second straight Den Bosch title as he beat Spaniard Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.
The first set was decided by a break in the 11th game and after that the Dutchman's consistency forced Robredo into too many errors.
In the semi-finals he will play compatriot Raemon Sluiter, who beat another Dutchman John van Lottum 6-4, 7-5.
Top seed Jiri Novak suffered a shock defeat as he was beaten by fellow Czech Jan Vacek.
Vacek, who also won their only previous meeting, came from a break down in the second set to win 6-4, 6-4 and set up a clash with seventh seed Arnaud Clement.
Clement, runner-up to Schalken last year, reached the semi-finals by beating Spaniard Fernando Vicente 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
