The diminutive Italian had knocked out multiple grand slam champions Coco Gauff and Barbora Krejcikova to advance to the last four in a timely boost for her US Open campaign.

Paolini made a strong start, but Kudermetova stormed back from 5-3 down in the second set to force a decider, in which the Italian seventh seed went on to close it out with a love hold.

“I said to myself after losing the tiebreak that I have to step back on court, be in the present and don’t think about what happened,” said Paolini.

“I did my best and it did not work in the second set, but you have to keep going.

“And that was the key, to forget and go back and fight and stay in the present.”

The 29-year-old is the oldest woman to reach WTA 1000 finals on multiple surfaces in a single season since Serena Williams nine years ago.

Paolini will enter the decider looking to snap a five-match losing streak against Iga Swiatek, in their first match since the Bad Homburg Open semi-final in Germany in June.

AAP