2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu advanced to her first final of the season on Saturday after defeating Hungarian qualifier Dalma Galfi 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Libema Open. 

"It feels great," Andreescu said. "I believe that all the heard work that I'm putting in and the perseverance and never giving up is really paying off."

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Andreescu will face either No.2 seed Liudmila Samsonova or two-time defending champion Ekaterina Alexandrova for the title on Sunday.

Samsonova and Alexandrova split sets in their semifinal before play was suspended for the remainder of the night. They will resume their match at 10:30 a.m on Sunday, with Samsonova leading 6-3, 6-7(1). Alexandrova saved two match points to take the match to a decider.

Andreescu, 23, is playing just her second tournament since being sidelined for nine months with a back injury. She last made a Hologic WTA Tour final on the grass at 2022 Bad Homburg. On Sunday, she is bidding to win her first title since her Grand Slam triumph in New York five years ago. 

Since returning to action three weeks ago at Roland Garros, Andreescu has won six of seven matches. This week, in addition to Galfi she has defeated Eva Vedder, No.6 seed Yuan Yue, and former No.1 Naomi Osaka. Her sole loss since her return came to French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini.

Currently ranked No.228, Andreescu's progress this week will boost her firmly back inside the Top 200.

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Facing Galfi for the first time, Andreescu dominated her service games and was ruthlessly efficient on her own break chances. The Canadian won 62 percent of her first-serve points and 75 percent of her second-serve points. She was broken just once. 

"I think I played very good throughout the whole match," Andreescu said. "The conditions weren't easy and she played really well at times. I saw that she was a bit injured, which obviously doesn't help. So I just tried to stay focused until the end and I just never gave up."

Andreescu broke Galfi's serve twice in the opening set before racing away with the second set to seal the win after 1 hour and 31 minutes.