Novak Djokovic moved to within a victory of repeating as China Open champion when the Serb top seed defeated American John Isner 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 Saturday in their semi-final, reported dpa.
Djokovic, second in the world behind Rafael Nadal, will Sunday face the winner from the second semi between Spanish eighth seed David Ferrer and Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic as the Serb bids for an 18th career trophy.
Djokovic held Isner to a mere seven aces, as one of the biggest servers in the game and winner of the longest match ever played during the Wimbledon first round was unable to mount an attack.
After taking almost an hour to salt away the opening set, Djokovic turned up the heat to finish the job on the way into his third final of the season and second in succession after facing Nadal in the US Open title match just over a month ago.
"I returned and played well on the return games and had a lot of opportunities throughout the whole match," said Djokovic. "I used them when I needed to. I'm just happy to get through this one."
Djokovic has never lost in Beijing, improving to a perfect 8-0 and now standing 2-0 against Isner.
The Serb holds a 48-13 record this season as he fights to keep pace with world number one Nadal and stay ahead of chasing No 3 Roger Federer in the ATP rankings.
In the women's field, new world number one Caroline Wozniacki survived a roller-coaster of an opening set before settling in for a 7-5, 6-2 defeat of Israeli Shahar Peer to reach a second straight Asian final.
Tokyo champion Wozniacki plays Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Vera Zvonareva after the second-seeded Russian defeated China's Li Na 6-3, 6-3.
Wozniacki, who clinched the top WTA spot this week, lost her first service game but found a 4-1 lead before having to escape once again in the opening set against Peer. But once claiming the opener, the Dane was untouchable.
Zvonareva stands 3-2 over her rival after eliminating Wozniacki in a US Open semi-final a month ago in straight sets.