France's Virginie Razzano rallied from a set down and defied match points against her to defeat top-seeded Venus Williams 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 and win the Japan Open.
In the men's bracket, top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain downed seventh-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (3), 6-3 and will face third-seeded Richard Gasquet of France in Sunday's final. Gasquet defeated second-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-6(3), 6-3.
Williams had three match points in the tiebreak of the second set but couldn't finish off the fifth-seeded Razzano, who won her second straight WTA tournament.