Top seed Kim Clijsters humbled a worn out Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday to reach her second final of the year at the Paris Open against crowd favourite Mary Pierce.
Pierce ruthlessly ended the run of her young French compatriot Tatiana Golovin with a 6-4, 6-0 demolition in the other semi-final.
Clijsters had struggled against Italy's Silvia Farina-Elia in the quarter-finals but easily dismissed Marat Safin's sister, who looked exhausted after entering the draw as a qualifier.
The one-sided contest took just 43 minutes, with Safina finally holding serve in the penultimate game before saving a match point in the only exciting rally of the match.
The Belgian world number two is expecting a much tougher time in the final.
"The crowd will be against me, but that's normal. Next week we're in Antwerp and the crowd will be behind me," she said.
In the final, Pierce will be looking to end her title drought. She last won at Roland Garros in 2000.
Clijsters will hope for her first title of the year after losing to compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne in the Australian Open final.
Pierce, herself a former Australian Open champion, ousted 16-year-old Golovin, the new sweetheart of French tennis, in just over an hour with her strength and experience.
Helped by an impeccable first serve -- 82 percent throughout the match -- Pierce never allowed Golovin to settle.
Golovin, who was thrust into the spotlight after reaching the last 16 in Melbourne Park, held on for eight games before Pierce finally managed to break the deadlock.
The 29-year-old served out for the set 6-4 with a trademark ace in barely 40 minutes.
Twenty minutes later, she won her ninth successive game to clinch the match with yet another blistering ace against a player hampered by hip problems.
"We've worked very hard on my serve and the results are showing," Pierce said.
"Only one day left and hopefully I'll go all the way."
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